The head of Striking Distance Studios admitted that his words were "wrong" and said the studio values "passion and creativity, not long hours."
A wave of criticism has recently mounted on Glen Schofield, the head of Striking Distance Studios, who shared that the studio's employees usually spend 12-15 hours a day, six-seven days a week working on the studio's projects.
For those unaware, Striking Distance is the developer behind the upcoming survival horror game The Callisto Protocol which is scheduled for release on December 2. On Saturday, Schofield took to Twitter to explain that he only talks about the game during major gaming conferences and events as according to him, he and his team are really busy with the project during the rest of the time.
"I only talk about the game during an event. We r working 6-7 days a week, nobody’s forcing us. Exhaustion, tired, Covid but we’re working. Bugs, glitches, perf fixes. 1 last pass thru audio. 12-15 hr days. This is gaming. Hard work. Lunch, dinner working. U do it cause ya luv it," he wrote.
The public, including both players and developers, immediately reacted to Schofield's words with resentment as it seemed that the Striking Distance head confirmed the studio's crunch culture. Many found it weird that Schofield himself, on whom the employees' salaries and career growth depend, spoke about work with long hours and almost no days off.
Schofield's comment also drew the attention of various media representatives, including Bloomberg's reporter Jason Schreier who wrote in a tweet that he was open to hearing stories from anonymous Striking Distance employees who'd like to share about working overtime and the company's environment in general.
Shortly after there were too many negative comments on this tweet, Schofield deleted it, and soon, posted a new message where he admitted that what he had said earlier "was wrong." He stated that he always deeply appreciates his employees, so he decided to personally apologize to the Callisto Protocol team.
The head of Striking Distance emphasized that the studio does not support working overtime – according to him, passion for work and creativity are most important for his company.
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