The Callisto Protocol No Longer Takes Place In The PUBG Universe

The Callisto Protocol is one of the most anticipated horror games in years and happens to be our June cover story. One of the project’s more intriguing aspects was that it canonically took place in the same universe as popular battle royale PUBG: Battlegrounds, albeit in the distant future and on another planet. As of today, that’s no longer the case.

Glen Schofield, The Callisto Protocol’s creative director, took to Twitter to announce that the game now unfolds within its own story and fiction and not PUBG’s. 

FYI @CallistoTheGame is its own story and world. It no longer takes place in the PUBG Universe. It was originally part of the PUBG timeline, but grew into its own world. PUBG is awesome, & we will still have little surprises for fans, but TCP is its own world, story and universe.

For those unaware, Krafton, the maker of PUBG, is publishing The Callisto Protocol, hence the connection. The change likely won’t come as a huge loss. Even when TCP was connected to PUBG, Schofield always said it was a distant relation and that any references to the battle royale would be light at best. He reiterated as much in our cover story, stating: 

“The idea of us being in the universe at first sound really good, and then as you start coming up with your story we realized, ‘Wow, this is a little out there.’ We built in some touchpoints, and you’ll find them throughout the game like Easter eggs and things like that.”

Schofield also talked to us about The Callisto Protocol’s now-former place in the broader PUBG timeline and how it affected the game’s fiction and vice-versa: 

“When we came in, they had a lore team and they were writing this big story, like, ‘Where does PUBG start? Where does it fit in?’ They write this giant timeline and our writers are involved in helping. We sit on the timeline, but we sit pretty far out there, and kind of alone. So if they ever make another game, let’s say that’s after our timeline. I would imagine our game will inform that more than we are being informed by their timeline.” 

The Callisto Protocol launches later this year. If you’re excited about the game, keep an eye on Game Informer in June, when our exclusive online and video coverage begins rolling out. Subscribers to the digital version of the magazine can read our cover story right now.