Glen Schofield

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Glen Schofield
Glen Schofield - Masterclass 2017.jpg
Glen Schofield at the Paris Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie on 22 September 2017
NationalityAmerican
Occupation(s)Video game designer, producer, programmer
Known forVisceral Games, Sledgehammer Games, Striking Distance Studios
Notable work Dead Space
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
The Callisto Protocol
Children3

Glen Schofield is an American video game artist, designer, director, and producer. He was formerly the vice president and general manager at Visceral Games, co-founder of Sledgehammer Games, founder and former CEO of Striking Distance Studios, [1] and the creator and executive producer of the third-person survival horror video game Dead Space .

Contents

Career

Schofield trained in both fine arts and business, earning a BFA from Pratt Institute and an MBA from Golden Gate University. His career began as an artist and art director with the New Jersey video game company Absolute Entertainment. He then relocated to Seattle to join the West Coast's burgeoning video games industry. [2] His professional influences included Asteroids , Moon Patrol , Gunstar Heroes , Disruptor and the Contra series, followed later by Resident Evil , Gears of War , and the franchise he would eventually contribute to, Modern Warfare . [3]

As a vice president at Crystal Dynamics, Schofield headed development on two of the studio's franchises: Gex and Legacy of Kain . Moving to EA Redwood Studios (later Visceral Games) as general manager, he collaborated with Bret Robbins, including the popular Lord of the Rings video series and 007: From Russia with Love . [2]

Schofield's reputation grew with the 2008 title Dead Space , which the magazine Edge called "a work of passionate sci-fi horror that became one of most commercially successful new properties of the year." [4] Schofield has said that the film Event Horizon inspired him to create a game that fused the genres of science fiction and horror. The game's theme of humans in space losing perspective to their place in the universe is influenced by the works of Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke, after whom the game character Isaac Clarke was named. [5] [6]

Schofield, executive producer on the project, worked with Michael Condrey, senior development director. The game launched a franchise of sequels, comics, novels and films, and went on to win more than 80 industry awards, including the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences' Action Game of the Year and two awards from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. During his time at EA Redwood Studios, the studio was ranked 17th in the top 50 Game Developers List of 2009 by Game Developer Research. [7] Edge named him one of the Hot 100 Game Developers of 2009. [8] [4]

Schofield (left) and Michael Condrey at the Sledgehammer headquarters, 2009 Glen Schofield and Michael Condrey at the Sledgehammer Games headquarter -- 21 October 2009.jpg
Schofield (left) and Michael Condrey at the Sledgehammer headquarters, 2009

In 2009, Schofield and Condrey created Sledgehammer Games, with Schofield as general manager and Condrey as chief operating officer. They retained those roles when, that November, Activision acquired the company as a wholly owned development studio operating on an independent model. [9]

Schofield was also a storyboard director and created over 100 characters for the animated series The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers .[ citation needed ]

In June 2019, Schofield announced that he was joining Krafton as the CEO of a new development team called Striking Distance Studios. Under Schofield, the studio will be developing a game with a narrative experience set in the PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds 's universe. [10] [11] The game would later drop this connection in May of 2022, no longer being attached to the PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds universe. [12] The Callisto Protocol was revealed at The Game Awards 2020 and planned for release in 2022. [13]

The Callisto Protocol failed to reach its anticipated sales goals, resulting in Schofield voluntarily leaving Striking Distance Studios in September 2023. [14]

Personal life

Schofield is married and has three children. In his spare time, he enjoys painting and exercising; he has said that he enjoys both cardio and weight training so much that he will exercise once a day when working on a project with a deadline and twice a day when not. [3] [15]

Games

TitlePublisherReleasedRole
Barbie: Game Girl Hi Tech Expressions 1991art director/lead artist
Swamp Thing THQ 1991art director/lead artist
The Simpsons: Bartman Meets Radioactive Man Acclaim Entertainment 1992art director/lead artist
The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends THQ 1992art director
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York THQ 1992artist
Super Battletank Absolute Entertainment 1992artist
Penn & Teller's Smoke and Mirrors Absolute Entertainment Cancelledart director/lead artist
The Ren & Stimpy Show: Buckaroo$! THQ 1993art director/lead artist
Goofy's Hysterical History Tour Absolute Entertainment 1993art director/lead artist
The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends Absolute Entertainment 1993art director/lead artist
Home Improvement: Power Tool Pursuit! Absolute Entertainment 1994art director/lead artist
Street Fighter: The Movie Capcom 1995artist
Major DamageCancelledcreator/producer
WerewolfCancelledart director/producer
Gex 3D: Enter the Gecko Eidos Interactive 1997game director
Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko Crave Entertainment 1999game director
Akuji: The Heartless Eidos Interactive 1999game director
Walt Disney World Quest Magical Racing Tour Eidos Interactive 2000game director
Mad Dash Racing Eidos Interactive 2001creator/game director
Knockout Kings 2003 Electronic Arts 2002executive producer
Blood Omen 2: Legacy of Kain Eidos Interactive 2002game director
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Electronic Arts 2003producer
From Russia with Love Electronic Arts 2005executive producer
Dead Space Electronic Arts 2008executive producer
The Godfather II Electronic Arts 2009general manager
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Activision 2011co-director/producer
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Activision 2014co-director/producer
Call of Duty: WWII Activision 2017co-director/producer
The Callisto Protocol Krafton 2022director

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References

  1. ↑ Schreier, Jason (September 20, 2023). "'Dead Space' Co-Creator Departs Startup After Newest Game Flops". Bloomberg News . Retrieved September 20, 2023.
  2. 1 2 Rogers, Bruce (February 21, 2013). "Glen Schofield and Michael Condrey's Sledgehammer Games: Growing the Call of Duty Franchise". Forbes. Retrieved 1 March 2013.
  3. 1 2 Figaro, Brittany (August 4, 2011). "True Gamer of the Week: Glen Schofield". GamerFitNation. Archived from the original on 18 October 2012. Retrieved 28 November 2012.
  4. 1 2 "The Hot 100 Game Developers of 2009". Edge. March 3, 2009. Retrieved 28 November 2012.
  5. ↑ Staff, Joystiq (January 22, 2013). "Hit List Q&A: Glen Schofield, co-founder of Sledgehammer Games". Engadget. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
  6. ↑ Lee, Jonathan. "'The Callisto Protocol' is Dead Space's blander, buggier little brother". The Washington Post. Retrieved 9 October 2023.
  7. ↑ "Top 50 Developers 2009". report. Game Developer Research. Archived from the original on 23 July 2012. Retrieved 28 November 2012.
  8. ↑ "Activision Hires Glen A. Schofield and Michael Condrey to Lead Sledgehammer Games". IGN. November 18, 2009. Retrieved 28 November 2012.
  9. ↑ Williams, Mike (June 26, 2019). "PUBG Corp Hires Former Sledgehammer Co-Founder For "Original Narrative Experience"". USGamer . Archived from the original on September 13, 2020. Retrieved April 1, 2020.
  10. ↑ Van Allen, Eric (April 1, 2020). "Glen Schofield on Going From Dead Space and Call of Duty to Being Given "Carte Blanche" in the PUBG Universe". USGamer . Retrieved April 1, 2020.
  11. ↑ Schofield, Glen [@GlenSchofield] (May 26, 2022). "FYI @CallistoTheGame is its own story and world. It no longer takes place in the PUBG Universe. It was originally part of the PUBG timeline, but grew into its own world. PUBG is awesome, &we will still have little surprises for fans, but TCP is its own world, story and universe" (Tweet). Archived from the original on September 19, 2022. Retrieved December 1, 2022– via Twitter.
  12. ↑ Kim, Matt T.K. (December 11, 2020). "The Callisto Protocol Wants to be The Scariest Next-Gen Horror Game Ever". IGN . Retrieved December 11, 2020.
  13. ↑ Wales, Matt (20 September 2023). "Dead Space co-creator Glen Schofield departs Callisto Protocol studio after flop". Eurogamer.net. Retrieved 21 September 2023.
  14. ↑ "About Me". Glen A. Schofield: Fine Art. Personal website. Retrieved 28 November 2012.
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