What you need to know
- The Dead Space survival-horror game franchise was first put on ice after Dead Space 3 failed to meet sales expectations in 2013.
- A decade later, Electronic Arts' Motive Studio put out a remake of the original game, which was critically acclaimed.
- Comments from Giant Bomb's Jeff Grubb indicate that a remake of Dead Space 2 has been canceled, which Electronic Arts denied in a statement to IGN.
- Bloomberg's Jason Schreier reports that a remake of Dead Space 2 was explored but never greenlit, and that the franchise is again on ice.
If you were hoping for more Isaac Clarke and Necromorphs, take a seat.
A report from Bloomberg indicates that Electronic Arts' Motive Studio is not continuing to work on the Dead Space franchise. The report indicates that while ideas for a new game were explored, nothing was ever greenlit, with sources citing disappointing sales for the Dead Space remake, which released in January 2023.
Earlier in the day, Giant Bomb's Jeff Grubb stated that he'd heard Dead Space 2 remake was very early in development but that the project had been canceled. Shortly after, Electronic Arts gave a statement to IGN's Kat Bailey that Grubb's report was incorrect.
Motive Studio — which is also working on an Iron Man game — is now assisting on the Battlefield franchise. Weeks ago, Electronic Arts (EA) laid off hundreds of employees, canceling a Star Wars shooter from Respawn Entertainment and closing Ridgeline games, a studio founded explicitly to assist with single-player content in the Battlefield franchise.
Dead Space has been on ice before
The Dead Space game franchise has been paused in the past. After the release of Dead Space 3 in 2013 and the game failing to meet lofty sales expectations, Electronic Arts took now-shuttered developer Visceral Games off of Dead Space, with the team instead working on the Battlefield series and developing Battlefield Hardline.
Following Hardline's launch, Visceral Games was working on a Star Wars game codenamed Ragtag under director Amy Hennig, but the game was canceled in 2017 and the studio was closed.
The Dead Space franchise wouldn't return until almost a decade after Dead Space 3, with Motive Studio launching the Dead Space remake on Jan. 27, 2023 across Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and PlayStation 5. The Dead Space remake was the second best-selling game of January 2023 and the third best-selling game of February 2023 in the U.S.
Analysis: A move that further constrains EA's portfolio
In my review of the Dead Space remake, I wrote that "Motive Studios delivers a remake that isn't just a faithful adaption of Dead Space for the modern age, but a love letter to the entire franchise. New narrative tweaks, the addition of a talking protagonist, and open exploration across the ship add up to a stellar horror experience."
The Dead Space franchise provides some of the best Xbox games ever made, and I'm extremely disappointed that it looks like this series so near to my heart is going to be on ice again. I'll never say never (after all, it came back once already) but I'm definitely not expecting things to change in the near future.
While Electronic Arts is clearly trying to only bank on the safest of safe hits, I'm worried about what'll happen, as its portfolio appears increasingly thin with only a tiny of handful of new games in development. Fingers crossed for Dragon Age: Dreadwolf.
