Earlier today, it was announced via a short introduction video that Glen Schofield, one of the cofunders of Sledgehammer Games, has joined PUBG Corp to lead a new AAA studio named Striking Distance which is located in San Ramon, California. Not much information has been given about what exactly Striking Distance will be working on, but Schofield has tweeted out that it won’t be a sequel to PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. Instead, it will be “an original narrative in the PUBG universe.”
Schofield appears excited to start this new venture at Striking Distance and take his experiences from developing a plethora of big titles to develop new concepts at Striking Distance. He is also excited about exploring the universe of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, and the possibilities of taking the game beyond just a battle royale.
Since Striking Distance is still getting off the ground, the studio is currently staffing up in a variety of departments including design, art, and engineering. Specifically, the studio is looking for lead single player and multiplayer designers. Those who apply to these positions need to have some experience at designing live service games, so that gives some indication as to what type of game Striking Distance is working on.
Prior to joining PUBG Corp, Schofield whelped create the sci-fi horror game Dead Space at Visceral Games. Then, Schofield was one of the founders of Sledgehammer Games and worked on the Call of Duty franchise. Then, early last year, both Schofield and fellow co-founder Michael Condrey left Sledgehammer to pursue internal roles at Activision. However, both Schofield and Condrey would leave Activision late last year. Condrey has since joined 2K Games and is leading his own studio there.
You can check out the full introduction video for Schofield below: