The Callisto Protocol was without a doubt one of yesteryear’s most hyped up games. Lauded for its impressive visuals and extreme horror. But upon release the game was met with lukewarm reviews and less than stellar sales. Something that Krafton CEO Changhan ‘CH’ Kim now has opened up about.
Kim admitted the game didn’t hit the mark because of one major issue: the gameplay. The team was torn on whether their direction was solid, focusing heavily on making the game a visual stunner. But that meant the gameplay—the thing that really matters—got left in the dust. Kim now believes that this lack of focus on gameplay is what ultimately led to the game’s downfall.
During a chat with Game Developer he spoke in length about how gameplay in truth is the most important thing and said:
“This is a single-player narrative game that’s visually stunning and a high-quality game to look at. 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”.