The Callisto Protocol was once set within the PUBG universe and one of the developers explained how that would’ve worked and why it ended up being scrapped. For those who don’t know, The Callisto Protocol developer Striking Distance Studios is owned by PUBG Corp, the makers of the popular battle royale game. When it was announced that Dead Space creator and former Call of Duty vet Glen Schofield would be working with the PUBG folks, it was assumed he’d be making another shooter or something that would have immediate connections to the battle royale game. When it was revealed that Schofield and the team at Striking Distance was working on The Callisto Protocol, a sci-fi horror game, many had trouble understanding how this was related to PUBG in any way.
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The Callisto Protocol developer Glen Schofield spoke with Game Informer about how the game was originally supposed to be connected to PUBG and how they eventually decided to scrap that idea. Ultimately, Schofield said the idea was that they wanted to “ride the wave” of PUBG’s popularity. At some point, the game began to grow and become its own thing that it no longer made sense to tie it into PUBG and the idea was apparently scrapped.
“I think because it was such a popular game, could we ride the wave of some of that,” said Schofield. “It actually fit at some point, it really did, but we outgrew it a bit.”
As of right now, it seems like The Callisto Protocol will stand on its own and embrace its Dead Space roots instead. The game is already looking like a terrifying sci-fi experience that will feature gross monsters, gory dismemberment, and all kinds of other sci-fi horror tropes that Dead Space fans will likely get a kick out of. Whether or not the PUBG universe will get to expand outside of its core games remains to be seen, but it is an interesting prospect that could lead to a unique video game universe should PUBG Corp be willing to try again.
The Callisto Protocol releases on December 2nd, 2022 for Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, PS5, and PC. Would you have been interested in seeing the game’s PUBG connections? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @Cade_Onder.