Game developer Glen Schofield is best known for Dead Space. He is currently very dissatisfied with the state of the industry, but has some suggestions for solutions.
Long-time developer Glen Schofield (Dead Space, The Callisto Protocol) took stock of the current state of the gaming industry during a presentation (via IGN) at Gamescom Asia x Thailand Game Show in Bangkok—and had few positive words to say. However, he didn’t just criticize, he also offered suggestions for improvement.
Specifically, Schofield made the following comments during his keynote speech:
We need to save the gaming industry now. It’s broken, shattered, and battered. Our developers are downhearted; they’ve had to put up with this over the last few years. We need to help it regain its former glory, right? Instead of all this negativity.
The gaming industry is in tatters, but AI of all things is supposed to help.
To achieve this, Schofield immediately makes several suggestions that he believes must be implemented to secure the future of the gaming industry. First, he ventures into a particularly controversial topic and explains that AI has become indispensable as a development tool:
AI will not replace us. It is there to make us faster, better, and more efficient. AI is there for all of us, it really is. Not just for directors or artists, writers, and marketing managers.
For him, there is therefore no question that studio bosses in the industry must be instructed to train their own employees in the use of artificial intelligence. If general competence in this area increases, he believes that developers will hire more people again instead of cutting jobs.
AI is being used more and more often in game development. Mostly to facilitate processes or generate (preliminary) assets. Other games, however, even make AI a central element, such as a narrative, as in this case!
Why game studios need real leaders
The next suggestion revolves around investors, i.e., the biggest financial backers behind game productions. For him, it’s clear that they not only need to spend more on development, but also bring the right people together in the right positions.
According to him, anyone who wants to develop a AAA game has to dig deep into their pockets. In addition, an experienced, creative mind must be at the helm of the studio. Someone who stands behind the vision and is supported by numerous capable people. According to him, too often people are promoted who are fundamentally well-suited, but are far from ready to lead a development team
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As a positive example, he cites his own studio, where he is also relieved of so much of the burden that he can concentrate fully on the essentials – studio management.
After working on the original Dead Space, Schofield left the studio and worked on a spiritual successor with Striking Distance Studios and The Callisto Protocol. However, he left this studio in 2023 and is now leading an as-yet-unannounced project at Pinstripe Games.& nbsp;According to IGN, however, he wouldn’t say no if he were entrusted with a new Dead Space game.
Overall, Schofield calls for more people in the gaming industry to be introduced to working with AI. He also wants investors to adjust their spending realistically to the market and put capable people at the forefront of development, delegating numerous tasks to their team so they can focus entirely on leadership.
E3 should return to reunite the industry
His latest proposal takes a completely different direction. Schofield wants E3 back as a gaming convention and press event:
I’m telling you, every single E3 I’ve attended has made my games better. I know there’s no formula to prove it, but every game has benefited from it. You exchanged ideas with friends and colleagues there, and everyone was eager to help you with the latest technologies or introduce you to new mechanics. When companies broke away from E3, I knew it was coming to an end, and I deliberately boycotted it. This is not an industry that works together, but a fragmented one. And now there is no more E3.
Finally, he turns once again to the developers listening to him and explains emphatically:
Don’t forget that ideas are what breathe life into this industry. And those ideas come from you.
Schofield therefore advocates that developers themselves take back some of the reins and help shape the future of the gaming industry in a positive way. Even though he has attributed a central role to artificial intelligence, Schofield says that, in his opinion, people are still clearly at the center of it all.
There is little doubt that the gaming industry is currently undergoing change. It remains to be seen whether Schofield’s solutions will be accepted or whether the industry will develop in a completely different direction in the future.
