Glen Schofield, the creator of survival horror franchiseDead Space, may be walking away from game development. This week, Schofieldannounced that he had ceased work on an exciting new project.
For the past eight months, he had been developing a new IP with his daughter, Nicole, who previously worked onThe Callisto Protocol. The project’s budget had been reduced and reduced and reduced — from $17 million to an anemic $2-5 million — until it no longer made sense to pursue the idea and the team disbanded, leaving “a team of six here in the States and a full crew in the UK” out of work.
Schofield begins hisLinkedIn postabout his unannounced game falling apart with the understatement of the century: “It’s tough out there.” If even Schofield — a seasoned lead with experience working on some of the biggest franchises in gaming — can’t get a project to come together in 2025, who can?
It doesn’t help that other industry veteranslike Doom co-creator John Romeroare facing similarly tough times concerning studio closures, project cancellations, and layoffs.
Schofield’s Recent Struggles
This comes following Schofield saying last December that he and multiple other Dead Space alums had approached EA about developing aDead Space 4, only to be turned down. Andthatfollowed Schofield exiting Striking Distance in September 2023, after the critical and commercial failure of The Callisto Protocol.
When it was announced that the creator of Dead Space was at work developing a single-player sci-fi game in thePUBGuniverse for publisher Krafton, I was excited. Over time, the game shed its PUBG skin and was revealed to be a sci-fi horror game and spiritual successor to Dead Space. But when The Callisto Protocol broke cover in 2022, the final product was significantly less interesting than either of its progenitors. It was too pretty to lean into the jank of PUBG and far too linear and hand-holdy to channel the exploration-based horror of Dead Space.
Ireviewed it at the timeand wasn’t a fan. But one misstep doesn’t take away from the fact that Schofield has been key to the creation of some incredible games. And Gex, too.
Creating Gaming’s Horror Icon Of The ’00s
Dead Space was one of the only major video game horror franchises to emerge in the 2000s.Silent HillandResident Evilare both products of the 1990s.Five Nights at Freddy’swas one punch that defined the 2010s, and the first-person indie horror ofAmnesia,Outlast, andLayers of Fearwas the other. For younger millennials like me — the kind who were in high school in the late aughts and early teens — Dead Space was the defining horror video game series.
Well, andBioShock, if you count BioShock as horror, and I kinda do.
Throughout the century, those ’90s franchises have remained a persistent, frantic heartbeat of the genre. Resident Evil 4 is the definitive horror game of the 2000s, maybe the definitive game of that decade, period. But Capcom’s series has stayed relevant through sequels and reboots to this day. Silent Hill has suffered longer periods of radio (ahem) silence, but has also had major releases in every era.
For whatever reason, EA has opted out of building on Dead Space’s success in the way that Capcom and Konami have with their premiere franchises. Even if the Dead Space remake underperformed, a sequel — especially one with original talent like Schofield attached — could have been an important step toward the franchise returning to prominence. Especially if, unlike The Callisto Protocol, it was given proper time to cook.
Helping COD Get Its Boots On The Ground
But Schofield also worked on one of the best (and most underrated)Call of Dutycampaigns. After shipping Dead Space, Schofield left EA Redwood Shores to form Sledgehammer Games. That studio went on to develop five Call of Duty games, including my personal favorite,WW2.
In all my years playing COD, WW2 marked the solitary time I was invested in the characters and the story. It was trope-y, relying on some of the same archetypes you’d see in a Band of Brothers or Saving Private Ryan. But by putting the focus on those characters — instead of cranking the pace and telling the story through disorienting streams of photographs and redacted documents like most entries — WW2 went where none had gone before.
Navigating the trenches of the European theater was harrowing. And healing through medical packs instead of simply ducking behind cover until your health topped itself up made the gameplay far more thoughtful and tactical than it had been in previous entries. Eight years after launch, it remains the best in the series to me.
Schofield’s Done It All
In his 34-year career, Schofield has done it all. Early on, he made licensed games based on Barbie and Swamp Thing; Penn & Teller and Ren & Stimpy; Home Alone and Home Improvement. He guided both 3D Gex games to release as game director. He introduced us to Dead Space. He successfully shepherded COD back to WW2 when its fans were suffering from future shock.
Schofield has the pedigree to get, at least, a decent budget and creative freedom. I don’t know if the game he was working on would have been a return to form, but nothing great is made without some risk. If there’s no space for Schofield in the industry, then it’s tough out there indeed.
