Waiting for the remake of dead space at the end of the month, fans of horror and science fiction games were able to discover The Callisto Protocol at the end of last yeara survival horror dark and bloody in a prison on a distant planet. A title developed by Striking Distance Studiosfounded by Glen Schofield, creator of dead space.
It would be logical to think that a team led by such an experienced man could enjoy a pleasant atmosphere, but not really. From last year, Glen Schofield praised the merits of crunch and the studio did not hesitate to indirectly troll Gotham Knight by asserting that The Callisto Protocol was running at 60 fps. But that was obviously only the tip of the iceberg.
GamesIndustry.biz indeed publishes a long article re Striking Distance Studiosciting several developers who were not mentioned in the credits of The Callisto Protocol despite their work being done on the game. It is about twenty people, including developers senior, directors and team leaders, who had the unpleasant surprise of not seeing their names in the credits. Anonymously, they testify explaining that Striking Distance Studios did not name certain providers, judging their work too minor, while they spent several months on the project. Others are full-time employees, who created major elements of the game. Something to cringe at, and a developer claims that this is a form of favoritism, with the studio only crediting members based on their affinities. The absence of their names in the credits would thus be a kind of message, an obvious “FU” towards members deemed to be disloyal to Striking Distance Studios.
These anonymous employees are obviously talking about crunch, claiming to sometimes spend 10 hours a day in meetings and then having to redouble their efforts to catch up on backlogged work. And not being credited in the credits of the game after all that obviously goes badly, especially since it was all unexpected. Besides the crunch, several forgotten developers claim that the atmosphere at the studio was still quite good and that they enjoyed working with Glen Schofield.
For now, Striking Distance Studios did not react to the article GamesIndustry.biz, but it seems obvious that a press release to clarify the situation is inevitable. You can find The Callisto Protocol at €59.99 on Amazon.
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| Clint008 Writer – Tester |
