As one of EA’s most popular video game franchises, you’d think we’re guaranteed a new Dead Space game at some point, but there’s been little talk about the survival horror shooter series since Dead Space 3 in 2013. So, what are the actual chances of us ever seeing a Dead Space 4?
Well, Visceral Games (formerly known as EA Redwood Studios) is currently working hard on the development of a new Star Wars game for PS4, Xbox One and PC. The fact that this new action adventure didn’t make an appearance at E3 this year suggests that could be a long way off – perhaps the back end of 2018 – so work on Dead Space couldn’t start until at least then; and even then you’d expect publisher EA to milk the Star Wars name with plenty of content that will keep Visceral busy post release.
It seems unlikely that Visceral would then start on a game that could be as potentially big as Dead Space 4 on the current hardware when the PS5 release could only be a matter of twelve months away. However, there’s definitely hope that a new Dead Space game in the series could materialize at some point, as the developer still holds the IP close to its heart.
In recent years, since the release of the sales disaster that was Dead Space 3, the team has spoken fondly of the series. “Many, many people here at Visceral have a warm spot in their heart for Dead Space, and right now we’re busy with Hardline and…other things,” said general manager of Visceral Games, Steve Papoutsis back in 2015, “but it’s definitely something we’d love to look at again.There’s definitely a lot of interest internally for us to pick that up again at a future date.”
Though Dead Space 3 (2013) didn’t hit sales forecasts predicted by Electronic Arts, making it far less successful than the previous games, EA made one big mistake that could easily be rectified for future Dead Space games. The inclusion of microtransactions for the first time in the franchise seriously put off potential customers.
The internet was seething with fans because Dead Space 3 coerced players into spending cash in-game by drip-feeding them resources at such a slow rate to encourage them to buy materials to craft the best weapons. It was a crazy move by EA because Dead Space 2 had exceeded expectations by selling more than double the original game. Players showed their disdain for the greed of micro-transactions by staying away for the third-entry, but the series still has the potential to recapture its fan-base.
One way for EA to test the waters would be to give new players and older Dead Space fans the chance to enjoy the deadly space-based shenanigans once more – Dead Space Trilogy Remastered; all three games with all content unlocked and zero microtransactions. EA has yet to follow the trend with remasters, but if ever a series deserved the attention of a HD version that could make amends for the awful microtransactions decision then this is it. And who wouldn’t love to see a bit more Dead Space?
What do you think? Would you love to see Dead Space 4, or perhaps a remastered trilogy sans microtransactions?