EA has officially denied that they cancelled a Dead Space 2 remake.
This follows a rumor shared by Jeff Grubb, who claimed that EA decided to move Motive towards making Battlefield games after deciding on this cancellation. As we reported yesterday, Motive explained that they were splitting off a team that would be dedicated to making Battlefield games, and that this team was being led by key figures who made last year’s Dead Space remake.
IGN has the official statement from EA:
“We don’t normally comment on rumors but there is no validity to this story.”
Jason Schreier, who also shares rumors about the industry, had information from his sources on what happened behind the scenes. According to him, Dead Space 2 was “explored”, but didn’t really get into development. Motive really spent a few months coming up with ideas for a new Dead Space title, possibly, a Dead Space 3, or a spinoff. None of their ideas got far enough to get the greenlight.
Schreier, reporting for Bloomberg, and IGN, both independently confirmed with their sources that EA is telling the truth about no Dead Space 2 ever making it to development. Schreier says that Motive has been working on other games for over a year now. Of course, we know about the Iron Man game, and the recent announcement that they would be joining the Battlefield franchise. It is possible that Motive also has other games in the works that have not been announced yet.
While it’s easy to point fingers at EA for cancelling what would have been a promising revival, if Schreier is to be believed, they didn’t block Motive from making more Dead Space games. Motive couldn’t come up with an idea compelling enough to make a Dead Space 3.
While there might have been some interest for a Dead Space 2 remake, there was a clearer mandate to do so for the first game. The original title was not programmed in a way that the PC version would still be compatible with modern PCs. Furthermore, the Dead Space remake that Motive did make did a masterful job at modernization, including QOL changes, and a better overall game that realized the vision of the original game better.
Furthermore, Schreier’s report claims that Motive actually failed to meet internal targets when making the Dead Space remake, something that people who played the remake can feel with the stuttering to this very day. So we won’t be getting more Dead Space in the near future, but perhaps EA is right to wait for when they can find a better studio, or Motive gets good enough, to reexplore this IP.
