Fans of the Dead Space horror franchise may be hungry for another crack at cutting down Necromorphs, but it seems EA isn"t that interested, at least taking it in a specific direction. When the original creators behind the franchise formed together to pitch a new Dead Space game earlier this year to the publisher, they had received a flat out no in response. It"s not all doom and gloom just because of one rejection though.
The story comes from an interview with Dan Allen Gaming (YouTube link), where leads from the original Dead Space developer Visceral Games — Glen Schofield, Christopher Stone, and Bret Robbins — were talking about the classic franchise, its inspirations, and development stories. In it, it"s revealed they had asked EA for another shot at Dead Space with a fresh sequel.
"We tried, actually, the three of us," explains Schofield. "Dead Space 4. We are talking this year."
However, all they had received was a rejection from the massive publisher, possibly due to concerns about the series" profitability.
"We didn’t go too deep,” Schofield added. "They just said, ‘We are not interested right now, we appreciate it blah blah blah," and you know we know who to talk to. so we didn"t take it any further. And we respected their opinion. They know their numbers and what they have to ship and all that so yeah."
Glen Schofield took another crack at the sci-fi horror genre with The Callisto Protocol in 2022 with his new development company Striking Distance Studios. The game came through with a partnership with PUBG maker Krafton. However, following average reviews and a failure to meet sales expectations, Schofield left the head position of the company in 2023. It seems his intention to return to EA for another Dead Space did not work out this year.
The Dead Space franchise itself has gone through an interesting timeline throughout its life. The EA-published horror series began in 2008 with a hugely well-received romp through the USG Ishimura as systems engineer Isaac Clarke, offering players a unique sci-fi experience.
While Visceral Games" second entry in 2011 continued the series upward trend and critical acclaim, Dead Space 3"s (2013) less than stellar reception and not hitting sales expectations made EA put the series on ice for years. Visceral Games was shut down in 2017.
However, EA"s Motive Studio revealed in 2021 that it has taken the reins to steer the series back to modern platforms. The Dead Space remake landed in 2023, even going on to win awards for its Frostbite Engine powered horror journey. However, reportedly not even this fan-favorite remake managed to hit EA"s sales expectations.
Motive is currently working on a mysterious Iron Man game for Marvel as well as helping with a Battlefield entry from DICE.
What"s good to keep in mind is that while EA has rejected this Dead Space 4 pitch from Visceral Games" top creative minds, it might be open to return to the series under a studio of its own. Motive may still get the go ahead for a Dead Space 4 or even a Dead Space 2 remake (which would cost less thanks to work on the first remake) following its development duties with Marvel and DICE, which could be deemed as much more high-profile projects.
While the Dead Space series is on ice for now, it"s more likely that EA would tap one of its own proven studios for a new game than gamble with another Dead Space 3 or Callisto Protocol scenario. In any case, it will certainly be a while before Isaac Clark, or another poor engineer, gets to stomp on Necromorphs.