Striking Distance Studios CEO and Dead Space co-creator Glen Schofield is leaving the studio.
As reported by Bloomberg, parent company Krafton confirmed Schofield's departure to "pursue new opportunities."
The studio's chief operating officer and chief financial officer are also leaving and the company confirmed that the three were not laid off, but are quitting voluntarily.
Schofield's position will be taken over by Steve Papoutsis, previously chief development officer. He also boasts a Dead Space pedigree, having served throughout the series as senior and executive producer.
Schofield himself mentioned in a statement that his departure is "bittersweet" but he knows that "the studio is in excellent hands."
According to Krafton, the departures won't affect Striking Distance Studios' plans for the future.
This happens less than a year after the release of the survival horror game The Callisto Protocol, which launched in December 2022 to a mixed reception.
Unfortunately, the game didn't meet Krafton's sales target, which was set at five million units. It was then lowered to two million units by the end of this year.,
Admittedly, our review is on the lower end of that mixed, with our Samuel Guglielmo, who mentioned that The Callisto Protocol "has occasional bouts of fun melee combat and fantastic graphics, but too much of the game is simply not fun to play to be worth it."
The game has received several updates and DLC since, and it's currently available for PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC.
Update: Krafton reached out with a full statement, which you can read below:
After successfully founding Striking Distance Studios, Glen Schofield has decided to pursue new opportunities. Steve Papoutsis, who previously served as Chief Development Officer and General Manager for SDS, Chief Operating Officer at Baobab Studios, and Vice President, General Manager, and Executive Producer at Electronic Arts, has been appointed CEO of the studio.
There is no better person than Steve to guide SDS through this transition. His long professional collaboration with Glen extends all the way back to when they first worked together at Crystal Dynamics in the late '90s before reuniting at Visceral Games.
Glen's contributions during his time at KRAFTON have been invaluable. He built an ace team of talents at SDS and set a high standard for the work they did together every day. We're confident in the team's continued success because of the significant impact Glen has had, and for that we owe him our deepest gratitude.
We have been carefully planning for the transition to ensure a smooth handover and uninterrupted operations. Striking Distance Studios is committed to supporting its incredibly talented team. Our staff remains a top priority during this transition as they're the backbone of our success. The studio's plans remain unaffected, and its focus is to continue producing exceptional content.
We also get a full statement from Glen Schofield himself:
Creating Striking Distance Studios has been an incredible journey and I’m so proud of what we’ve achieved with The Callisto Protocol, a game close to my heart. While pursuing a new adventure is exciting, leaving SDS is bittersweet, but I know the studio is in excellent hands. Steve and I go way back to working at Visceral Games. I saw how successful he was in taking the reins after my departure then and how he continued the studio’s success and growth. That’s how I know he’s the one to lead the studio into its next chapter.
