Tue, Dec 07, 2010 | 22:07 GMT
Multiplayer for Dead Space 2 was the “most requested” feature from fans

Dead Space 2′s executive producer, Steve Papoutsis, has said the reason Visceral included multiplayer in the sequel was because it was the “most requested” feature from the fans.
Speaking with GamerZines, Papoutsis said gamers wanted to be able to the game with friends after finishing the single-player part of the story.
“Given that feedback we wanted to deliver a game that our players would enjoy and listening to what they listed as the number one feature addition made sense,” he said.
As far as the game’s online experience sharing “similar cues to Left 4 Dead” is concerned, Papoutsis said he didn’t thing all horror games needed a “team-based competitive survival” vibe, but with Dead Space 2 “the approach” the developers took just “made sense for our particular game”.
You can check out some of the multiplayer here and here.
Dead Space 2 is out on January 25 for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360, and EA’s John Riccitiello believes it’s “scarier” than the original game.
A demo for the game “could” arrive before the end of the year.


14 comments
#1
Hunam
07/12/10, 10:09 pm
I bet it wasn’t.
No one I knew who enjoyed Dead Space ever mentioned mulitplayer. I bet they asked a bunch of CoD fans or something.
#2
Erthazus
07/12/10, 10:11 pm
I honestly think that fans didn’t wanted that =/
#3
AHA-Lambda
07/12/10, 10:14 pm
yea it was requested in bioshock 2 aswell and everyone realised quite quickly that was an awful idea but by then it was too late.
#4
SlayerGT
07/12/10, 10:24 pm
“was because it was the “most requested” feature from the fans” is EA speak for “the higher ups said too many people traded this game in too quickly”
#5
Hunam
07/12/10, 10:29 pm
Shit multiplayer has zero effect on people keeping a game, see The Darkness. That had multiplayer, no one touched it.
#6
SlayerGT
07/12/10, 10:41 pm
@5 Agreed. That hasn’t sunk into their heads yet.
#7
Anders
07/12/10, 10:45 pm
Honestly, I didn’t want any features in Dead Space 2 that weren’t in Dead Space. If the developers would’ve asked me what I want in a sequel, I don’t know what I would’ve replied.
#8
Hunam
07/12/10, 10:59 pm
I think the only problem with Dead Space was that it was a new IP. The series is much more established now and I think Dead Space 2 would have surpassed the original anyway, sheerly because they’ve built the brand up and people know it and like it now. Adding multiplayer on and making Issac talk could be harming the franchise more than bolstering it.
#9
brotherhoodofthewolf
07/12/10, 11:09 pm
i bet they forgot to ask in their focus groups what users were prepared to forego in order to get multiplayer functions…
#10
Aimless
07/12/10, 11:11 pm
I don’t doubt they got a lot of people requesting multiplayer. How many times have you seen people on the internet claim the sequel to the most inappropriate game “needs” co-op?
Basically gamers don’t know what they want so you shouldn’t listen to them. Or rather you shouldn’t take their answers at face value, instead searching for the underlying motivations behind their request.
That said Dead Space 2‘s multiplayer looks alright. I haven’t played it myself — the PS3 Beta was US only, right? — but it could join AC:B as a recent game to which multiplayer is a worthy addition.
#11
mojo
08/12/10, 7:46 am
right..
so im living in a bubble.
noone, literaly no-one from the ppl i know asked for a mp in dead space..
when i first heard of that i could only think “Why EA, why? dont blow it again!”
and from what i saw in beta videos the mp will not make my groin moist..
i buy ds2 purely and solely for the SP, i guess i wount even try the mp..
i guess ds2 will be the first game in this gen which i will buy used.
#12
Blerk
08/12/10, 8:51 am
Okay, hands up who played Dead Space and thought “man, this is great but I wish it had multiplayer”.
/tumbleweeds
#13
KrazyKraut
08/12/10, 9:03 am
beta was fun, but…like all other here…i am sure it wasnt really requested.maybe 2P co-op–but…not mp
#14
B117
09/12/10, 10:12 pm
Hunam, you right…the first video I watched on xbox live was of one of the game developers saying, with a huge smile on his face, that Issac was going to talk more this time, you know, so we can feel more a part of the game.
I think the silence was one of the things that specifically made me feel more part of the game and I know others agree.
It’s a great game that needs no multiplayer to make it “better” for us. Heck, it may make it “better” for some people, more power to’em, but let’s hope it doesn’t take away from attention paid to single player.
Ultimately, whatever makes more money for EA is “better”, and they’re a business, I know that, but boy does it suck if it makes good games,…well, less good.