Known for his work on the Dead Space license and more recently The Callisto Protocol, Glen Schofield has published quite the poignant message on LinkedIn.
In his post, Schofield revealed that he had cancelled a game project he was working on with his daughter. What’s more, he blames it on an industry that has become too complicated and ever more limited budgets.
"Game Industry: It’s tough out there."
"Over the past eight months, I’ve been quietly working with my daughter, Nicole, on a new game idea. She came to me with it, and I immediately loved the idea. Something I hadn’t seen before. We’ve been calling it a new sub-genre of horror—not just horror, but something more."
"Some of you know this already, but I named Isaac’s girlfriend in Dead Space after Nicole. She’s been making games for around eight years now. Besides being a great artist, she’s got real ideas. And she’s been playing games since she could wrap her hands around a controller."
"We pulled the budget down to $17 million, built a prototype with a small, talented crew, and started taking meetings. People loved the concept. We got a lot of 2nd and 3rd meetings. But early feedback was “get it to $10M.” Lately, that number’s dropped to $2–5M."
"So last month, we decided to walk away. Some ideas are better left untouched than done cheap. We had a team of six here in the States and a full crew in the UK. Now, everyone’s looking for work. They’re all talented folks—if you’re hiring, let me know."
"As for me—I’ve worked on games of every size. From 2 of us to over 300 devs. Spent the last 15–20 years making big AAA titles with great teams. That’s what I do. That’s what I love. But with the industry on pause, AAA feels like it’s a long ways away."
"So I’m back to my art. I miss it all; the team, the chaos, the joy of building something for fans. I’m still around, making art, writing stories and ideas and still cheering the industry on. But maybe I’ve directed my last game. Who knows? If so thank you playing my games."
"And Nicole—well, she got laid off from Striking Distance Studios, a studio I founded and a CEO I put in place. She’s one of the strongest artists I know. She built some of our best levels on Callisto Protocol. She plays everything. She’s got the talent. Somebody’s gonna be lucky to have her."
