Dead Space 4 Probably Will Never Happen and Former Franchise Producer Explains Why
While publisher and IP rights holder Electronic Arts released a remake of Dead Space in 2023, it seems it didn’t do as well as EA would have liked, as we’ve never heard anything about a remake for its sequel, Dead Space 2.
If that’s not disheartening enough for franchise fans, it seems we shouldn’t hold our breath for a proper follow-up as well, at least according to the franchise’s original producer.
Don’t Expect Dead Space 4 Anytime Soon and It’s All Due to Sales
Speaking in an episode of the FRVR podcast, Dead Space franchise writer and producer Chuck Beaver mentioned that Dead Space 4 likely won’t happen due to poor sales.
Beaver explained, “I mean, it’s disappointing that we can’t make a beloved franchise to its logical end, but I guess I’m too much of a producer, [I’ve] been producing for too long. I understand the numbers, and I understand what’s happening, and why even Motive wasn’t really greenlit for anything after the remake.”
According to Beaver, “the numbers aren’t there,” and even if the franchise has a “fervent fan base,” that might not be enough for publisher EA.
“Horror games have a bit of a ceiling, you know, and I think the number back in [former EA VP] Frank Gibeau’s day was 5 million units to keep going on Dead Space,” Beaver shared. “I think the number is like 15 million units now, given the cost of things.”
Beaver estimates that a new Dead Space game would likely need to sell around seven million units to even be seen as viable, adding, “Any of the Resident Evils are selling around seven million [units], that’s a pretty good number,” the producer explained. “Like you can make that hunt for some amount of stuff. But, you know, companies now are looking for the next Fortnite. They need something that is a perennial moneymaker… something like a single-player package game with no live=service offering that’s like it’s just a dinosaur fossil of a business model.”
Given how well single-player, narrative-driven games are doing these days, perhaps one day EA will reconsider. It’s a long shot, but one can hope, right?
With how single-player games like Resident Evil Requiem are made these days, there are ways to shoehorn in microtransactions and whatnot, though it’s not something the community or fan base would probably be OK with it.
Fortunately, there are a lot of horror games popping off right now, though seeing Dead Space resurface successfully alongside Resident Evil, Silent Hill, and the other horror franchises would have been the perfect comeback.
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