Sledgehammer co-founder Glen Schofield has joined PUBG Corp

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Glen Schofield, well known among shooter fans as the former head of EA's Visceral Games studio and the co-founder of Sledgehammer Games, parted ways with Activision at the end of 2018, not quite a year after stepping down from his position as Sledgehammer's game director and chief creative officer. Today he revealed his next big thing: He's joined PUBG Corporation to head up a new triple-A development studio called Striking Distance.

Big new! I’m proud and honored to announce that I am now part of PUBG Corporation. Working together, we are building a AAA game studio called Striking Distance in San Ramon, CA.June 26, 2019

In a video announcing the studio, Schofield ran down the highlights of the last decade of his career, which includes the development of Dead Space and three Call of Duty games: Modern Warfare 3, Advanced Warfare, and WWII. "But now I'm looking to take those experiences to explore new designs and concepts," he said. "As a creative, the freedom to explore the PUBG universe has me excited about the possibilities, which we view as beyond battle royale."

Schofield said the studio will develop "an original narrative in the PUBG universe," clarifying that it will not be a sequel to PUBG. Which is really no surprise, because you don't hire a high-profile guy like Schofield to tweak up your next battle royale map: You do it because you want to build, as he stated, a big, loud, singleplayer game. The storytelling hooks in a goofy BR like PUBG may not be immediately apparent, but if Schofield's in I wouldn't rush to bet against it.

Striking Distance doesn't appear to have a website yet, but you can take a look at its hiring page at careers.pubg.com.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.