The internet is pretty mad about a new development in the gaming world today, a report that the creators of Dead Space had pitched a fourth game to EA but…they just didn’t want it.
In an interview with Dan Allen Gaming, Dead Space’s Bret Robbins, Glen Schofield and Christopher Stone talked about what happened:
“We tried … ‘Dead Space 4’ … we respect their opinion, they know their numbers and what they have to ship. The industry is in a weird place, people are really hesitant to take chances on things … who knows, maybe one day.”
Dead Space as a series has a special place in the heart of many gamers who started playing the series back in 2008. That led to two more games in 2011 and 2013 respectively. But in 2017, EA shut down Dead Space’s Visceral Games, which was likely the first clue they were not interested in more.
Then, however, there seemed like a bit of hope when the well-received Dead Space remake was released in 2023. It has “Very Positive” reviews on Steam and a great 89 on Metacritic. So, there’s hope, right? No, given that despite being good, EA reportedly viewed the remake as underperforming, moving only an estimated 2 million units when it wanted 5 million. Later, it was reported that EA had cancelled work on a Dead Space 2 remake based on this underperformance. EA ended up denying that but still…a Dead Space 2 remake does not appear to be happening.
All of this adds up to the idea that yes, a “risk-averse” EA is probably not going to fund a single-player sequel to Dead Space, as much as fans may want it. The bet is probably that there are not enough fans that want it and would buy it to make it worthwhile. This is also the EA that never greenlit Titanfall 3, of course, and instead Respawn moved to Apex Legends (which did end up being a hit). EA is heavily reliant on titles like that, and its wide array of sports games every year. Only periodically do they go hard into the single player space with things like Respawn’s “Jedi” series. But other recent attempts like Dragon Age: The Veilguard, do not seem to be breaking down the door in terms of sales. I don’t think I’ve heard anything about that game’s performance at all since launch.
So Dead Space 4? In the current state of EA and its priorities, I cannot say the idea they’d dismiss it is a shock, as much as I would have loved to play it.
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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
