LogInThird time's the charm?
Following the rocky launch and subsequent failure of The Callisto Protocol to meet sales expectations, coupled with action roguelike [REDACTED] largely flying under the radar and peaking at fewer than 170 concurrent players on Steam, it seems that KRAFTON's Striking Distance Studios is now betting on a comeback believing third time would be the charm, with evidence suggesting that the team is now working on a AAA multiplayer title powered by Unreal Engine 5.
Striking Distance Studios
With the studio itself keeping its upcoming project under tight wraps and providing no official information about it, the confirmation of the game's existence comes from the LinkedIn profiles of Striking Distance employees. While information remains scarce, some profiles offer small hints and details, allowing us to get a rough estimate of the team's third standalone title.
Firstly, the game's genre: according to Lead Gameplay Programmer George Coomber's page, he is "leading a team of 12 gameplay engineers to prototype a third-person action game," suggesting that after the experiment that was [REDACTED], the studio is planning to return to its roots and once again try its hand at a TPS. While one could argue that George was referring to The Callisto Protocol, he only joined the team in June 2024, making it all but certain that he is describing Striking Distance Studios' unannounced title.
Secondly, the engine: as revealed by VP of Engineering Peter Lolley and UX Designer Indrashish D., the upcoming game will be powered by Epic Games' Unreal Engine 5, which isn't much of a surprise given the team's experience with the engine and the use of Unreal in their previous two games. Furthermore, Indrashish's portfolio also describes the project as a "new AAA experience," making it less likely that, after two unsuccessful titles, Striking Distance Studios has been turned into a PUBG support studio, as some within the gaming community have speculated.
Lastly, Striking Distance's venture into multiplayer: first spotted by Reddit user Melancholic_Starborn, the unannounced project is highly likely to feature a multiplayer component – unlike The Callisto Protocol and [REDACTED] – as evidenced by the presence of several multiplayer specialists on the team, with the list including Lead Multiplayer Designer Chin Xiang Chong, Multiplayer Lead Nathan Ross Powell, and Multiplayer Gameplay Engineer Steven Brener.
Additionally, Online Backend Engineer Ross Metcalf's LinkedIn profile also points out that the game will not be a single-player experience, causing concern that SDS may have fallen to the dark side and is preparing to unveil a live-service game – a genre that not only regular gamers have grown rather weary of, but even the crème de la crème of major gaming studios are beginning to turn away from.
Upon reaching out to one of Striking Distance's devs, they declined to provide any further details or confirm the information shared by other employees, stating that "nothing has been officially published by our company" yet. At the time of writing, the studio has not responded to our inquiry to confirm or deny the information provided by the developers, so stay tuned.
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