• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

Dead Space Creator Glen Schofield Thinks the Games Industry is “Broken, Beaten, and Battered”

Well...no shit. I've been saying that for years.

Every one replied that the industry was as strong as ever. Yeah....ok.
 
Artistic said:
www.ign.com

Dead Space Creator Glen Schofield Thinks the Games Industry is “Broken, Beaten, and Battered” - IGN

Dead Space Creator Glen Schofield Thinks the Games Industry is “Broken, Beaten, and Battered” but he has a three-point plan to fix it.
www.ign.com www.ign.com

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

He has some valid points.

AI tools can help speed up the development process, but it doesn't have to mean huge job losses at the same time. AI should be used as a tool for humans rather than a replacement.

I also agree that some publishers/developers are at little tight when it comes to development budget. Look at Gamefreak.

The recent leak revealed that they make their Pokémon games on a shoestring budget and it shows. Pokémon games make billions, so there is no excuse to cheap out and release a shitty game.
 
Largely correct.
  • Start using AI. Yes, obviously. When your games take a billion years to make and there's a new tech out that could speed it up, give it a shot. The quality still has to be there. Things still have to be touched up and customized, but if it can automate some of the bog of development, it's required for AAA to make a change yesterday or they're not going to be around. What he doesn't say is this will lead to some job loss, obviously. And that will lower development cost, which is literally required.
  • Bring back E3. Have said it for years. Go ask Sony about it since they killed it.
  • Auteur directors. Have said it for years. Yes.
  • Investors invest more. This one I don't really have an opinion on. I think investors are only interested in the dumbest wealth multiplying scams there are, like GAAS or other crap. They don't really care at the moment about responsible investing for quality games and modest return. Devs will need to keep brainstorming on this one to think of alternative funding models because I don't know if it's ever coming back.
Overall, not bad.
 
Last edited:
I thought bringing back E3 was a interesting take for me and how it helps with game development.

I never got the chance to attend and would love to go if it ever resumes, but having fans of the software essentially assist with game development is different(outside of beta testing).

Also had some visionary-like takes on game development as well.
 
"If we start putting money into the industry again, we know it's going to make money"
Concord

I agree with him that creative people and passionate people/gamer should lead the teams and not manager with a huge pile of market reasearch papers in front of them and with a modern audience in mind.
And yes, AI can be very helpful.
Aren't tools like speedtree already something like that?

The Callisto Protocol is a good looking game, with a great art design, but the combat was awful (imo).
 
No mention to the real problem of some part of the industry, right? If anything AI would be the bigger aggravator of current problems. Yeah, let's have baristas (or monkeys, why not) making videogames, what could possibly go wrong.

And yeah, let's spend even MORE money in stupid shit. Whoa, quite the insight.

Meanwhile, real artists, devs and musicians like the ones taking part in E33 and Silksong laugh all the way to the bank after making two of the best games this gen with a short budget.
 
Bring back E3? Hell yeah. Absolutely baffling that these companies can't seem to see how a mega event each year builds crazy hype.
 

Dead Space Creator Glen Schofield Thinks the Games Industry is "Broken, Beaten, and Battered"

Click to expand...

Just like his last game for months after launch.


ba GIF
 
Slow to adapt to the expectations of a new generation (or two) of gamers.

You just got old bruh…happens to all of us.

He should have spent more time cribbing from other creatives and maybe he would have his own credit card by now.
 
Last edited:
I agree on all three of his points.

I think, now we have some water under the bridge and time to reflect, the Geoff Keighley events are a poor replacement for E3 - and in truth they weren't ever meant to be a replacement (E3 and the VGAs could happily co-exist).

Having a multi-day convention with a bit of razzmatazz where the industry, the fandom, and the press all get together and converge was great and very productive. Since its covid-assisted demise we've seen games journalism fall off a cliff, we've seen echo chamber thinking and toxic positivity infect devs (if you don't meet the game buying audience you cant understand them), and we've seen the optimism, innovation and ambition of the industry stall with cross gen and risk aversion. It's like the industry is still operating under lockdown.

You can see how E3 would help all of these negatives, but in the words of the song "you don't know what you've got till it's gone".
 
To bring back E3 and make it relevant you are asking all major video game publishers and developers to hold off any announcements until E3, that means no Game Awards, no State of Plays, no Nintendo Directs etc. and I'm not sure publishers or devs are too convinced by that as that means timing all announcements to one very specific time of the year. E3 was great when social media wasn't as big as it is now and it did mean (arguably) much better conferences, but times have changed, publishers and devs can now time things how they want to do them but I do agree that for gamers that isn't as exciting.

Oh, and those saying Sony killed E3, they didn't, E3 killed E3, they couldn't decide if it was a trade event or a public event and it was incredibly expensive for publishers and devs to showcase there so instead they decided to host their own online showcases as it was much cheaper and for a while they even hosted online events at roughly the same time as E3. Nintendo was one of the first to pull out, Sony saw the success of Nintendo's online showcases and decided to do the same.

One of my favourite showcases was actually the PlayStation Experience showcase in December 2014 so not an E3 one. (edit: and watching this again, I just want another Uncharted)
 
Last edited:
IF IA can make games better (in terms of processing, reducing times, better optimization, etc) welcome. But I think that they shouldn't make "ia gerative voices, or images" that will fuck up everything.
 
AI: I think it is mostly unavoidable but the tech is moving so fast that it makes new work for devs itself.
E3: Not sure why. Maybe as a venue for selling huge game projects to funders?
Auteur Directors: The larger the team the more an "auteur" just becomes a log jam that stops any good or bad ideas from getting into the game. Maybe that is good if all the ideas are bad just bloat the scope of the game, otherwise bad.
Open the money floodgates: Lol.
 
Agree with him on AI. It think it's one of those things that can be good or bad depending how it's used, and a lot of people who stubbornly refuse to engage with it will be left behind.

E3 I don't really care about. IMO the whole concept of publishers holding a big showcase every year worked better during the PS3/360 era when they could make games at a fast enough pace to actually have big announcements every year. It was easier, for example, for Sony to make a decent show every year when they had Naughty Dog releasing a big new title every 2 years instead of once a generation.

Higher budgets I disagree with. Some of the best games this year have been smaller budget ones, expecting publisher to invest even more money is just going to result in boring safe games (with nice graphics). It's also a bit ironic coming from the dude that boasted about his game being "AAAA" then delivered something that was arguably worse than the 2008 game it was based on in every area except visuals.
 
Matt_Fox said:
-Bring back E3
Click to expand...
Honestly, E3 was a big part of gaming and the modern "showcases" where publishers just fart out random announcements for shit no ones cares about just to fill 30 mins or whatever, definitely is playing a role in diminishing general Excitement in gaming.

But bringing back E3 won't do shit unless these companies bring the goods.
 
Last edited:
Nah E3 can stay dead; one big consolidated event to hold all announcements doesn't work anymore. It was also just super expensive to visit or have a booth there as a publisher.
The lines also sucked, you pay all that money and you still have to wait 4 hours to play anything.
 
Says the guy who just got done straight up robbing a group of investors 😂😭 These people need to be far away from computers.
 
Punished Miku said:
Largely correct.
  • Start using AI. Yes, obviously. When your games take a billion years to make and there's a new tech out that could speed it up, give it a shot. The quality still has to be there. Things still have to be touched up and customized, but if it can automate some of the bog of development, it's required for AAA to make a change yesterday or they're not going to be around. What he doesn't say is this will lead to some job loss, obviously. And that will lower development cost, which is literally required.
  • Bring back E3. Have said it for years. Go ask Sony about it since they killed it.
  • Auteur directors. Have said it for years. Yes.
  • Investors invest more. This one I don't really have an opinion on. I think investors are only interested in the dumbest wealth multiplying scams there are, like GAAS or other crap. They don't really care at the moment about responsible investing for quality games and modest return. Devs will need to keep brainstorming on this one to think of alternative funding models because I don't know if it's ever coming back.
Overall, not bad.
Click to expand...

The problem with "Bring back E3" and blaming Sony is they only made more profit since they killed E3. While I want it back too, I don't believe anyone can financially explain how and why it should be brought back. And I'm a HUGE believer and lover of E3. Still till this day.

But how can you justify it?
 
mckmas8808 said:
The problem with "Bring back E3" and blaming Sony is they only made more profit since they killed E3. While I want it back too, I don't believe anyone can financially explain how and why it should be brought back. And I'm a HUGE believer and lover of E3. Still till this day.

But how can you justify it?
Click to expand...
I personally don't see it happening. I didn't really consider the profit argument, but I'll take your word on that. I personally don't think E3 would affect profits at all. I think they can still do directs and show other footage and stuff prior to release if they want. But maybe you're right? I think the other thing is just that a lot of AAA developers are putting out less, and it takes longer, and they just don't have a ton to show every single year.

I think they miss out on the spectacle, the cross promotion, the ability to see interviews and fun and make celebrities out of more developers and directors. People are big on community and big on transparency. They can see every aspect of the lives of influencers they follow and gaming is still in this dinosaur secretive mindset. E3 could be a place to meet people, showcase people, showcase games, talk to creators, all of that. But I doubt it will ever happen.
 
I agree with his premise, but not with his suggestions.

AAA industry is lacking in gameplay depth, originality, and polish. They are spending too much money focusing on the presentation rather than the most important part which is interactivity.
Throwing money at the problem will not fix that mentality.
 
Punished Miku said:
I personally don't see it happening. I didn't really consider the profit argument, but I'll take your word on that. I personally don't think E3 would affect profits at all. I think they can still do directs and show other footage and stuff prior to release if they want. But maybe you're right? I think the other thing is just that a lot of AAA developers are putting out less, and it takes longer, and they just don't have a ton to show every single year.

I think they miss out on the spectacle, the cross promotion, the ability to see interviews and fun and make celebrities out of more developers and directors. People are big on community and big on transparency. They can see every aspect of the lives of influencers they follow and gaming is still in this dinosaur secretive mindset. E3 could be a place to meet people, showcase people, showcase games, talk to creators, all of that. But I doubt it will ever happen.
Click to expand...

The bolded is literally what the industry is missing!!! It's so damn stupid man. All this complaining and it's mainly the executives that run gaming that have been trying to kill gaming as we know it for years. "THEY" keep talking about consoles going away. "THEY" keep talking about streaming being THE future. "THEY" keep saying E3 doesn't matter. And yet they don't understand that a huge part of gaming in Community.

Feeling like you are part of something larger. But for some reason these gaming executives keep doing things that separate us and they try to kill community. Major sport leagues understand this and they play to the community part. Even the movie and TV industry gets it. Its why they still have movie events like the Sundance festival, The Oscars, Golden Globes, Cannes Film Festival, Comic-Con, etc.

At the moment it's only Geoff the Doritos Pope that trying to keep some of the spirit of this alive in Gaming. But what happens if he tires out or dies or something? The gaming industry in itself doesn't seem concerned at all about this stuff. But it matters!
 
TL;DR (powered by AI)

Many AAA projects are overbudget, high-risk, and stifled by corporate or executive decisions.

Executives sometimes don't pick the right people to lead big games. That's DEI

The industry is slow to adopt new tools/technologies that might help.

There's been a loss of trust in big projects and failure is more punishing. This is woke


1. Train everyone in AI / bring AI tools into development

He says the "new wave" of generative AI is already here. Rather than wait for the tools to be perfect, companies should start training their teams now, so they can grow with it.

He suggests developers can set their own rules for how to ethically use AI (e.g. combining AI prompts with their own art) to feel comfortable.

2. Choose the right people to lead games

He believes many big projects failed not because of budget or concept, but because the leaders (directors, execs) were not the right fit or lacked experience.

He argues that studios should pick directors who have shipped games (not just creative leads without project leadership experience) and allow them to grow.

3. Revive a major industry show like E3 / restore community gathering

He laments that after E3's cancellation, the industry lost a shared platform for announcements, excitement, press, and community.

He wants to bring back that kind of large-scale event to reignite momentum and visibility.
 
www.thegamer.com

Dead Space Creator Glen Schofield Thinks Artists Should Begin Learning AI

Glen Schofield sees great potential in the use of artificial intelligence for game development.
www.thegamer.com www.thegamer.com

"I hear people saying soon you'll be able to make a AAA game with 20 people because of AI. I want to believe it, but when I'm walking through one of my levels, I'm always going, 'Move that pixel over. That should come down.' And then we're sitting there adjusting the camera. We're doing this day in and day out, all the time," Schofield explains. "Now imagine that with the code, the art and everything else. It's about being nuanced to hell."

He doesn't believe AI is quite there yet—a perpetual argument made by proponents of the technology—but he does wish, "artists would take notice that this is a great time to learn some form [of AI]."
Click to expand...
 
The answer's real simple:

Smaller teams, lower budgets but more time to cook.

Expunge all traces of DEI. Its a waste of money and isn't doing anything good for sales.

Chase the known market, not the illusory "modern audience". Its been tried and proven to be a bad idea to lead with ideology.

Its self-evident that the old "unreconstructed" industry managed to pull in all sorts of people WITHOUT PANDERING to niche group interests.

Its also catastrophic to Western devs at it concedes what should be their one unquestionable advantage - cultural proximity and familiarity - to newcomers from Asia and elsewhere.

The industry, like Hollywood, has increasingly lost touch with their audience, trust needs to rebuilt that what they offer is entertainment not heavy-handed sermonizing and moral instruction.

One last thing: Any employee who chooses to make divisive socio-political points on social media and poisons the-well for their associated product must be fired immediately. You represent the company you work for whether you choose to acknowledge it or not.

Gross misconduct of this nature just shows egotism and immaturity, it doesn't further any cause beyond lining the pockets of internet grifters. Stop this stupidity or look for new employment.

At the end of the day the media landscape has changed, and this change needs to understood and accommodated. The enthusiast press is not what it once was, so their support is no longer required. Social-media dumpster fires may be near unavoidable but the focus should be on damage minimization.
 
Bring back AA games and more genre variety. Give up on the idea of evergreen ecosystem online shit.

E3 is only allowed to come back if booth babes are.
 
NA developers are cooked, but we've been getting strong releases out of Asia (Japan/Korea) and Europe (Larian, CDPR, Warhorse, GSC Game World).

Corporate meddling has fucked USA + Canadian dev shops. There's 0 AAA titles from NA studios in the top 20 MC for 2025 or 2026. And the only ones in 2024 were D2 Final Shape, TLOU pt II remaster and HFW remaster.

Asian studios have already given us RE9, Pokopia, Crimson Desert, Nioh 3 and Pragmata in 2026 and it's only friggin' April.
 
Last edited:
Heh... just like my ex every time she dared to disagree with me.

Yeehaw!

Anyways, Glen can't win with his "go big or go home attitude". Not after how The Callisto Protocol ended up.

You have to prove yourself again, young Padawan. And that means smaller, cheaper projects.
 
I think what broke the industry was.
- Salaries ballooned.
- Development teams grown way to big.
- Personal agenda's that gamers don't want.
- Expensive development locations
- Indie market is where gaming used to be and its thriving.
- Culture.
- price.



Original world of warcraft was made by 50 people, now u have 1000's of people working on the next ubisoft single player title. If it doesn't sell 10m copies its not financial worth it. Is the game then a failure or was there simple way to much people working on it.

Games are like movies u can't relay on there income to be steady. It's a burst of money u get and then its gg. And if the next one isn't interesting people won't show up but the development company's are supposed to grow in developers minds?

I also disagree that AI isn't there to replace them. It is. If u can do more work it means u need less people or u won't at the minimum get more people u would otherwise have gotten. So it does replace developers.

Also back to costs, why keep making games in the most expensive places of all locations? huge waste of money. Start moving to places where costs are not expensive as hell. This is why u see ukraine/poland rise up in the markets.

Indie market is going strong and i think the reason for that is, it doesn't have the issue's that AAA game company's have. Small groups, small budgets but interesting new gameplay or visions that u can make without going bankrupt. Valheim/they are billions is a good example of that.

Culture, when u make games in california and its build by a " woke " group of people that is basically the norm there. U start to clash hard with the outside world where the culture is completely the opposite. Then aggressively pushing those agenda's instead of looking at the reality is also not going to help you sell more games.

I think the market is going to have a wake up call next generation and is already happening, increasing console prices / pc prices and game prices will result in people just sticking with less demanding games and older games. Game prices specially should start to come down and not go up. I think this also favors indie games far more with the general public because they can run it and the games are prices fairly.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

‘Maybe I’ve directed my last game’: Dead Space creator Glen Schofield says a new AAA game ‘feels a long ways away’
Game Dev 
36
2K
Sorcerer replied
Dead Space 4 Proposed by Glen to EA
2 3
129
2K
Montauk replied
Dead Space & The Callisto Protocol Director, Glen Schofield, says he might be done directing games as his daughters new game couldn't find funding
22
1K
Wildebeest replied
Major investor is 'shocked and sad' that the games industry is 'demonizing' generative AI
Opinion Business  2
70
1K
Draugoth replied
Glen Schofield (OG Dead Space / Callisto Protocol) - 'We Pitched EA Dead Space 4 This Year, They Refused'
2
80
5K
Buggy Loop replied
Top Bottom