The Callisto Protocol was one of the bigger surprise reveals at The Game Awards 2020. It’s the debut single-player horror game from new studio Striking Distance, which is made up of some industry veterans who crafted Dead Space. Given the setting and tone, it could not be further from a game like PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. However, The Callisto Protocol is indeed in the PUBG universe despite how different they both are.
This confusing correlation begins in June 2019 when Striking Distance was formed. CEO Glen Schofield spoke in the video on the official PUBG YouTube channel about his new studio. The accompanying news story also revealed that this team would be making a single-player game set in the PUBG world, stating that they are “working together to build the studio from the ground up so [they] can begin crafting an original narrative experience in the PUBG universe.”
But that came into question as the trailer for Striking Distance’s first game dropped during The Game Awards and was decidedly unlike PUBG. It was set in space in the year 2320 with horrific space monsters, which is about as far away from a fairly realistic military battle royale. But given how the news story from June 2019 said the developer’s first game would be in the PUBGiverse, people still drew lines from The Callisto Protocol to that initially pitched solo PUBG game. Even people in the game’s Discord server seem puzzled.
The official press release and trailer make no mention of PUBG, aside from the blurb at the bottom of the press release that gives the history of the publisher, Krafton. The PUBG Twitter account also did not tweet about the trailer or game. We even emailed the game’s PR and tweeted at Glen Schofield but got no response. But a Striking Distance representative told IGN that the two games are indeed linked, but did not divulge how.
There’s a lot of explaining to do here. PUBG‘s story, as shown in the above trailer, has gotten more complicated than “100 people drop on an island,” but even with those added details, it seems like it isn’t within striking distance of a horror game set in space. Regardless, everything should come to light in 2022 at the latest when The Callisto Protocol is set to release.
