Game news The Callisto Protocol: a $160 million flop?
As the time for the fourth quarter 2022 fiscal statements fast approaches, it seems that the South Korean stock market has taken a small hit on the head because of The Callisto Protocol. Glen Schofield’s latest game would be a real disappointment for Krafton and its investors, who would have lowered their sales targets.
Summary
- An experience that struggles to convince
- A $160 million flop
An experience that struggles to convince
Many players were waiting The Callisto Protocol, and for good reason: the app was supervised by Glen Schofield, a video game monument to whom we owe, among other things, the Dead Space license. On paper, Striking Distance’s game shared many similarities with its sibling. But when it was released, the video game community quickly noticed that, apart from a similar setting, atmosphere and genre, the two games ultimately did not have much in common. Much more “action” oriented than its predecessor, The Callisto Protocol relies above all on its combat system, and in particular its melee clashes.
If the title still offers a solid end-to-end experience, Striking Distance faced several technical issues at launch. What’s more, the gameplay disconcerted more than one player at first. Relatively demanding and quite punitive during the adventure, The Callisto Protocol also suffered from a frustrating fast save system, as well as a weapon reloading and healing mode that was ultimately poorly thought out according to reviews.
But while the studio has ironed out many of its game’s flaws with hotfixes and updates, it doesn’t seem like the work done after the fact has been enough to convince players. The sales figures would be disappointing, especially when compared to the budget allocated to the project.
A $160 million flop
Krafton bet big, really big, on the Striking Distance game. Thought of as an ambitious new license, The Callisto Protocol must benefit from a guaranteed follow-up at least until next summer, with several DLCs already planned. Glen Schofield had even declared that he wanted to make it a franchise in its own right. A project that will probably never see the light of day if we are to believe the figures revealed by K-Odyssey.
It appears The Callisto Protocol underperformed expectations
“Krafton’s new “Callisto Protocol” which was released last month at a cost of about 200 billion won over three years, is observed to badly influence its future performance due to sales shortage”https://t.co/ENZenHmpT8 pic.twitter.com/2CZLZ36UXR
— Benji-Sales (@BenjiSales) January 13, 2023
The Callisto Protocol reportedly cost Krafton nearly 200 billion won, or $162 million. A huge budget, which certainly includes development and marketing. But while the firm expected to sell more than 5 million copies which would have repaid the investment, the game is currently struggling to exceed 2 million sales. A blow for Krafton whose price would have fallen on the Korean market. Investors would now expect to sell nearly 2.1 million copies. It remains to be seen whether the patches and the additional content of the game will allow the machine to be restarted or not.
