Lately there’s been some doubt about the future of the Dead Space franchise, but Electronic Arts Games Label head Patrick Söderlund put those rumors to bed at E3 last week. The franchise is not cancelled, though Dead Space 4 is not currently in development either, he confirmed with Eurogamer. This leaves EA room to revisit Dead Space in the future without disappointing fans in the present.
“Will there be another Dead Space game? Who knows? Have we killed it? No, of course not. But right now [Visceral Games] is focused on something else that you and other gamers will be very happy with,” Söderlund said. “They’re working on something else very exciting. You have to think of it from that perspective. Is it better to put them on the fourth version of a game they’ve done three previous versions of before? Or is it better to put them on something new that they want to build, that they have passion for?”
He said the utmost priority for EA is putting the best possible games in the hands of its fans, and that money and other factors come second to that. Considering EA’s reputation for nickel-and-diming, some might argue with that claim, but the statement stands.
Rumors of Dead Space‘s demise followed Dead Space 3‘s failure to reach EA’s hoped-for 5 million sales mark. Söderlund’s assertions that the franchise isn’t dead are likely accurate, though at the very least it seems the franchise is in an EA-induced coma for now. Regardless, it’s nice to see that EA isn’t going to beat Dead Space into the ground by releasing game after game until everyone’s sick of it.
