'The Numbers Just Aren't There'

I have bad news for fans of EA’s unsettling horror series, Dead Space — former writer and producer, Chuck Beaver, thinks a fourth instalment of the acclaimed sci-fi series is unlikely due to low sales despite its “fervent fan base.”

Talking on the FRVR Podcast, Beaver admitted that the “numbers just aren’t there,” adding that to recoup the costs of the franchise’s high production values, any new game would need to sell over 10 million copies — a tall order for even a breakout horror game.

“Any of the Resident Evils are selling around seven million [copies], that’s a pretty good number,” Beaver said. “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.”

Beaver was pragmatic, though, insisting it didn’t feel “unfair” that the series failed to expand past its third entry. “It wasn’t like it didn’t get a run out of it,” he said. “I mean, it’s disappointing that we can’t [t]ake 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.”

The Dead Space remake, developed by EA-owned Motive Studio and released in 2023, was well-received but appears to have not done enough business to convince the powers that be at the mega publisher to invest in a follow-up.

IGN’s Dead Space remake review returned a 9/10. We said: “Dead Space is a superb remake and undoubtedly the definitive way to experience one of the best survival horror shooters that Capcom never made.”

“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 continued. “I think the number is like 15 million units now, given the cost of things,” he added, before joking that it was “a sadness in capitalism for all of us to suffer, until AI makes it apparently easy for you and I just type ‘make Dead Space 4.'”

In October, Glen Schofield, the co-creator of Dead Space, told IGN he hoped to bring the franchise back to life, despite EA’s lack of interest. “I went to [EA] recently and they’re like, ‘No, we’re not interested anymore,’” he said. “I said, ‘I can get back the leadership team. I need the models from EA Motive and I can save you 30 to 40 million dollars on the idea that I have.’ And, they’re like, ‘No.'”

“I have quite a few ideas that I’m ready to go with and one of them is Dead Space 4,” Schofield continued. “The fact that EA just got bought, I think there’s an opportunity. I’m already making calls.”

Last year, EA was acquired by an investor group composed of PIF, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners in a transaction worth approximately $55 billion. Schofield speculated that in order to recoup some of that cost, the investors could potentially look to offload some of EA’s more dormant intellectual property.

“We’ll see,” Schofield added. “I don’t know where EA’s head is right now, I don’t think they made money on [the Dead Space remake]. Dead Space needs to be adapted to different mediums — movies, TV series, it would be great. But I am more optimistic [since the sale of EA], because somebody new could buy [the Dead Space IP].”

Earlier this year, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple star, Alfie Williams, revealed he’s been playing Dead Space and made a push to star in a movie adaptation… if it ever happens.