Video Game Director, Artist, Designer, Creator of Dead Space, Callisto Protocol, CoD: Advanced Warfare, Director CoD: MW3, Advanced Warfare, WWll, Bond, Won Two Best Action Game of the Year (DICE), Eagle Scout, BFA, MBA
Game Industry It’s tough out there. Over the past eight months, I’ve been quietly working with my daughter, Nicole, on a new game idea. She came to me with it, and I immediately loved the idea. Something I hadn’t seen before. We’ve been calling it a new sub-genre of horror—not just horror, but something more. Some of you know this already, but I named Isaac’s girlfriend in Dead Space after Nicole. She’s been making games for around eight years now. Besides being a great artist, she’s got real ideas. And she’s been playing games since she could wrap her hands around a controller. We pulled the budget down to $17 million, built a prototype with a small, talented crew, and started taking meetings. People loved the concept. We got a lot of 2nd and 3rd meetings. But early feedback was “get it to $10M.” Lately, that number’s dropped to $2–5M. So last month, we decided to walk away. Some ideas are better left untouched than done cheap. We had a team of six here in the States and a full crew in the UK. Now, everyone’s looking for work. They’re all talented folks—if you’re hiring, let me know. As for me—I’ve worked on games of every size. From 2 of us to over 300 devs. Spent the last 15–20 years making big AAA titles with great teams. That’s what I do. That’s what I love. But with the industry on pause, AAA feels like it’s a long ways away. So I’m back to my art. I miss it all; the team, the chaos, the joy of building something for fans. I’m still around, making art, writing stories and ideas and still cheering the industry on. But maybe I’ve directed my last game. Who knows? If so thank you playing my games. And Nicole—well, she got laid off from Striking Distance Studios, a studio I founded and a CEO I put in place. She’s one of the strongest artists I know. She built some of our best levels on Callisto Protocol. She plays everything. She’s got the talent. Somebody’s gonna be lucky to have her. If you know of anything, please reach out. Thank you.
Glen, do you see your fundamental mistake here? I get that your last failure has made you cautious, but your investor strategy is completely backwards. These guys want billion-dollar payouts - not small-change projects. A $17M game was never going to deliver that. You need to think AAA blockbuster - we're talking $500M development for $1-3B in first-year returns. That's how you get investors to commit serious capital. Here's the reality: when you're in that boardroom, you need to think like a businessman, not a developer. They care about ROI, not polygon counts. Look, I'm broke too - so what? Right now I'm developing a game concept that could generate tens of billions within five years. Budget? Hundreds of millions. This isn't just another game - it's a cultural phenomenon. Some countries will probably ban it, which just proves we're pushing boundaries. Only my new IP alone is worth $100M, but I'm not selling - this is the next big thing.
Miss working on Callisto, that was incredibly fun making assets for. It’s been rough out here, looking for months and have landed nothing, not even interviews. Silence or rejection without even a chance to show my skills. Best of luck to Nicole and yourself Glen!
Were those numbers all just from the last 8 months? I'm not familiar with the business side so am just curious. If so, that's crazy.
You accepted me after my internship with Sony after school. I’ll never forget the day I got to work on Advanced Warfare with that dream team back in 2014. I talk to allot of those devs to this day and have worked with them at other studios. Just good people out there doing good work. Keep it up everyone we got this doors will open up soon! Much love.
When people ask me what song or movie it's kind of complicated but when they ask what's my favorite games? Deadspace and Calixto are direct answers! It's so hard to think about how many jewels cease to exist just because the game industry chooses recipe, poor decisions, game as a service over entertainment? Glenn, your work was so good that it made one of my difficult dreams tangible! If I`m a concept artist today it's because I played your stuff and was so motivated by the result of extremely hard work you and your team put on those games. For me it is the most brilliant of all and it's a legacy! I wish this rough times would come to pass and we could appreciate another masterpiece that I know for sure you and Nicole would nail, but I also know better than anyone what is to be constantly pressured to lower your rates. I'm a freelancer from Brazil. So I`m with you! Sometimes it's better not to make it than to do it poorly cause it's so hard to get here and people should respect that effort! All my best wishes for you my friend, can`t thank you enough for the moments of inspiration!
Hi Glen! We’re a mid-size studio working on an original title that includes some folks you might know from your Dead Space days. Without saying too much - I’d love to chat about collaborating ☺️. We’re based in New Zealand and would love to give you and Nicole an excuse to come visit!
Hey Glen! Have you considered searching for developers outside of the USA and UK, for example in Ukraine, the Czech Republic or Armenia? There are many talented people in the CIS who could develop your game for a fraction of the cost without compromising on quality. Atomic Heart cost around $25 million, and Metro: Exodus cost around $50 million.
I wouldn't be doing my current work without inspiration artistically brought by the Callisto Protocol. I'd love to keep in touch. Without ever having worked with you, it sounds wild that no one is jumping on a new IP investment from an industry icon.
Loved Dead Space. Loved Collisto. Big fan!
Those numbers are out of touch. If you send me your burn sheet I could easily get you into a sub $1m range. The old style of development, building everything from scratch, just doesn’t work or compete. 80% of dev jobs are obsolete. A single designer and a tech-artist can get you an MVP in ~3mo. Couple that with showing some early prototypes and build an audience.