The Callisto Protocol failed because of the gameplay, CEO says
If you haven’t played The Callisto Protocol and you can lay hands on it today, I recommend heartily that you give it a shot. The opening sections are the strongest, when the monsters are fewer and further between, and you’re fighting for your life with only a scant couple of weapons and the game’s novel melee combat system. Heavily inspired by Dead Space, it serves as the ideal companion piece to the EA-published horror-action series, but Callisto, unfortunately, struggled to get started. Developer Striking Distance laid off a number of staff and the chances of a sequel now seem scant. Now, the CEO of The Callisto Protocol’s publisher Krafton says that the game failed to meet expectations due to issues within its core gameplay.
Our Callisto Protocol review explains in detail why the horror game, which feels part Dead Space, part Resident Evil, and part boxing simulator, is well worth a try. Its director Glen Schofield, who also created the original Dead Space, has previously discussed how various constraints and difficulties in the relationship between Striking Distance and Krafton might have affected development. According to Krafton’s CEO, however, the chief issue with The Callisto Protocol was a lack of “edge.”
“We had difficulty predicting if the production was going the way it should, but I had two lessons learned,” Changhan ‘CH’ Kim says. “This is a single-player narrative game [that’s] visually stunning and a high-quality game to look at. Despite that, the game’s core is the gameplay.
“Gameplay comes first is what I learned with The Callisto Protocol. It could be the most high-quality game in the world, but if you don’t have a gameplay edge – if you can’t differentiate your gameplay from your competitors – it doesn’t work out. I was able to reaffirm that.”
Speaking to Game Developer, Kim says that despite the high production design and quality visuals of The Callisto Protocol, gameplay of a certain type and punch still needs to be present. The CEO recently hinted at the future of beloved rhythm action game Hi-Fi Rush, the rights to which are now owned by Krafton after it purchased developer Tango Gameworks. With regards to Callisto, however, Kim says videogames is a “hit-making industry.”
“Even though The Callisto Protocol is a narrative game, a single-player game, you need to be able to offer a good gameplay experience,” Kim says. “You can’t do that without those elements. Secondly, because making games is a hit-based industry, the production cost can scale up immensely and triple-A titles are very expensive to make.”
If not The Callisto Protocol, you might want to try some of the other best survival games on PC, or maybe the best story games available right now.
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