Krafton CEO On Why The Callisto Protocol Struggled

The Callisto Protocol struggled because it didn’t have a “gameplay edge”. That’s what Changhan “CH” Kim, CEO of the game’s publisher Krafton” said in a recent interview.

Speaking with Game Developer, Kim talked about The Callisto Protocol being the first AAA single-player game from the studio and developer Striking Distance. He said that there was some “difficulty” within as to deciding whether the direction they were going in was the right way.

“This is a single-player narrative game [that’s] visually stunning and a high-quality game to look at,” he said. “Despite that, the game’s core is the gameplay. Gameplay comes first is what I learned with The Callisto Protocol.

“It could be the most high-quality game in the world, but if you don’t have a gameplay edge–if you can’t differentiate your gameplay from your competitors–it doesn’t work out. I was able to reaffirm that.”

He then told Game Developer that he understands that gameplay has to innovate with games in order for players to have interest. A new experience is what will help a game’s success.

“This allows for new experiences within the game, and even though [The Callisto Protocol] is a narrative game, a single-player game, you need to be able to offer a good gameplay experience,” Kim said. “You can’t do that without those elements.”

As far as moving forward, Kim says that the market is tough to guess what could work and what may not. Still, Krafton and the developers it works with will “continuously try these new creative ideas”.

“Not everything will succeed, but one of these days we might just hit another PUBG,” he said. “This is a very bottom-up approach, I would say, and it’s not what a lot of big companies are attempting right now.”

Do you agree with the reasoning behind the struggles of The Callisto Protocol when it launched in 2022? Let us know in the comments, and join the discussion in the official Insider Gaming Forums.

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