Glen Schofield, the designer and studio head behind the original Dead Space and a stack of Call of Duty games, has announced his retirement from game development. He shared the news in a video posted to his LinkedIn page, filmed outdoors amid hills and birdsong, as several outlets noted.
"After 35 years of making games and directing them, running teams, it's time for me to officially retire from the day-to-day work," Schofield said in the video.
A career across two major publishers
Schofield's resume covers some of the biggest names in the business. As general manager of Visceral Games at EA, he co-created the Dead Space series, the sci-fi survival horror that became a genre touchstone. He later co-founded Sledgehammer Games under Activision, where he served as co-director on multiple Call of Duty titles: Modern Warfare 3, Advanced Warfare, and WWII. According to Game Developer, his tenures at those studios spanned more than seven and eight years respectively.
After leaving Sledgehammer to take on executive duties inside Activision, Schofield founded Striking Distance Studios in 2019. That studio delivered 2022's The Callisto Protocol, a Dead Space-inspired spiritual successor. As Eurogamer reports, the game was not particularly well received and its publisher said it fell short of sales targets. Schofield parted ways with Striking Distance in 2023, about a month after a layoff round that hit more than 30 employees. Per Game Developer, his most recent credit was as director and game advisor at Pinstripe Games.
Eurogamer also notes that after going independent, Schofield pitched a Dead Space 4 to EA, but that project went nowhere.
Thanks, and a note on hard times
Much of the video was Schofield thanking the people around him. "To the fans, man you've supported me," he said. "You let mine and my teams' games into your homes. You told me when I was good and you told me when I wasn't so good, but you made me better."
He also thanked the publishers who backed his biggest projects. "To EA, thank you for letting me make Dead Space. And Activision, you gave me the keys to three Call of Duty games and I really appreciate your trust," he said, before turning to his family, his kids, and his wife Barb.
Speaking to his peers, Schofield said he'd "had a front row seat to one of the greatest creative explosions in history." He closed with a message aimed squarely at the state of the industry, which has been battered by layoffs and studio closures. "I know times are tough right now, but, man, the future is really, really bright," he said. "I wish you all, the next generation of game makers, the best of luck. Explore, experiment, enjoy and don't forget that the most important thing is the idea."
What it means for players
Schofield's exit closes the book on one of horror gaming's defining voices, and it makes The Callisto Protocol his final shipped game. With Dead Space 4 already dead on arrival and no new project attached to his name, fans hoping for another Schofield-led scare should treat this as the end of that particular road. It's a reminder that the Dead Space legacy now rests entirely with EA and whoever it chooses to hand the series to next.