Dead Space 4 cancellation rumour turns ugly following Moore rebuttal

Medal of Honor and now this, Battlefield is next if they don’t pull their heads out.

@51 Seems like they’re streamlining themselves ahead of the next console cycle.

As far as Battlefield goes, I don’t think that will be next; EA mandates that a game has to sell over five million units to be viable and Battlefield 3 has long since surpassed that figure.

Wow. Deadspace 3 was awesome. Medal of Honor blew ass and bad ass at that. BF3 is a GREAT game. Deadspace was great, I can think of 100 games that should be canceled before this. Too bad.

EA does have a knack for fn things up.

@48, It is but it doesn’t have to be. It’s your choice, I have never purchased the packs myself and I only know one person who has. If you’re good at the game and know how to play the transfers you wouldn’t need to.

@50, I have bought MTs for some games before (ME3, TOR, maybe others) but I game a lot, probably more than I should. And I have a bit of cash to spare.

I don’t get why people find this idea of gamers with money so unbelievable. I’m sure I’m not the only decently paid 20-something that doesn’t mind buying a few extras here and there for the games they like.

54: the thing is its effectivly cheating.
at least thats how i see it.

i dont care if someone buys a fancy hat in TF2. but paying money to get more damage is cheating. simple as that.

@55, Well yeah sure but then so are cheat codes. But as long as cheat codes and MTs only impact the SP and non-competitive MP, what’s the problem with that?

I don’t disagree when people say you’re effectively paying for cheat codes which use to be free, that is ture. I just don’t really mind that much. But that’s each to their own.

“As well as discussing Dead Space 4′s alleged cancellation, our source also gave us further insight into Dead Space 3′s development, telling us that the game was almost cancelled partway through its development, and saw continuous cuts made to its budget throughout production.

Weapon-specific ammo was allegedly switched for generic ammo late in development, too, as a method for shoehorning in the game’s controversial micro-transactions.

EA also advised Visceral that Dead Space 3 needed to appeal to a wider audience than the series’ previous two titles, our source added, and the studio was reportedly told to focus on action over horror in an effort to make the game feel more like BioWare’s Mass Effect.” – From the Videogamer article. FFS EA. You’re becoming more like a certain Peanuts character every article.

“the game’s first week sales in the UK were down 26.6 per cent on the game’s predecessor Dead Space 2. ” It’s slip-slided away down the chart list since that point.

56: i just find the notion of buying cheats throught the official store disgusting..

So people voted with their wallets. Great.

@54 A lot of people would rather have a full product than a piecemeal one. It may be psychological and petty, but you ignore your customers at your own peril.

Personally I think the industry should spend a lot less time figuring out new nickle and dime schemes, and a lot more time figuring out new games instead. I think that will get them farther.

First MOH, now Dead Space whats next.

“Personally I think the industry should spend a lot less time figuring out new nickle and dime schemes, and a lot more time figuring out new games instead.”

Well said. That seems to be the industry’s biggest problem right now.

the industries biggest problem is their paradox expectations.
they want all games to sell 5mio plus?
how is that about to happen with only so much people playing games and way too many games coming out? How is EA hoping to sell bucketloads of DeadSpace while they try to hold the gamers in the mp of their other shooter?
right, not at all. So there needs to be a shift in publishers expectations.

dead space is not a franchise material.

Soon to be free on PSN+

@Dave: I think you might be over-simplifying there Dave. First of all, the micro-transactions thing is not restricted to buying or not, I think you have to suspect that the design of the game was impacted by it too.

But more importantly, I think people would be justified in not buying it because it was shit, at least it was compared to the original and also (to a lesser extent) to the sequel.

All that said though, if this is all true (and I’m hoping it’s just the rumor mill) it seems like a fucking travesty that some cunt executives in EA will keep their jobs while Visceral in very real danger of getting shut down. If it happens I will be gutted personally…

I only played the demo and I loved it. I don’t know why people want this game to be some horror survival. I think the first one was a good attempt, the second one seems better (haven’t finished it yet), but I will be getting the 3rd soon.

@67, I’ve recently been playing through DS2 and so far I think it’s a much better game than DS1. When I get around to finishing it I will most likely get around to 3 but I have to play EA’s other “failed” game, SimCity, before I do…

Post updated with response from EA. Not true, apparently.

The only section of that which reads as if it came directly from the source of the message is “patently false”. So, it is true that they have not announced a Dead Space 4 (in other words, there is no DS4 for that game to have been canned). The idea of Gama advising people to spread the word, also does not sit well. EA should have issued a statement directly to press, if it determinedly wanted to counter what’s been suggested to Videogamer, by “sources familiar with the cancelled project.”

as a player of the first dead space game and loving it. i feel like all the game after the first have been canned. the 2 & 3 is just crap, i have tried them but never gonna buy and play them through. the games have nothing i loved about the first game. so if they canned the 4 game i dont care…

“While we have not announced sales for Dead Space 3, we are proud of the game and the franchise remains an important IP to EA,” an EA spokesperson told Eurogamer.

Hopefully this means Visceral are going to be just fine.

Just by reading the posts of people bashing DS3 it’s easy to see the majority didn’t even played it…

DS3 is a great game. You can unlock everything by playing, no need for micro-transactions. Also the inclusion of co-op don’t interfere with the SP at all. The control is much better now. There’s more action but not enough to be considered an action game. The audio and gfx are great. The environment too, especially the space part.

Also, #45 (mojo) wrote: “Plus they took everything what was good and unique in Dead Space 1 and ripped it apart to exchange it with generic everything. generic weapons that feels all the same, generic ammo with the sole purpose to supporting microstransaction, generic TPS Gameplay, generic enemies. generic all of it. “So we had unique and cool weapons. lets change them for generic real weapons that all feel the same. So we have this very cool and fresh dismembering gameplay. lets change it for generic full auto shooting. So we have those unique and intimidating enemies. Lets put in more humans.”

Clearly you haven’t played the game. Especially about the weapons. You can design your own variation now. You want a Plasma Cutter with a shotgun that do acid damage? You can! You want a rifle that do electricity damage, you can too! I think this is a great addition to DS3, Isaac is an engineer after all.

DS3 is my favorite game of 2013 so far and it would have been in my top 10 of 2012.

DS1 was awesome for the time but I’m not so sure how I would feel replaying it now. DS2 was good. DS3 is great!

Everybody calm down now. Whoever created the rumor is apparently full of shit.

LOL! Change the formula. Change the identity of a game, and it loses its appeal. You can’t sell hamburgers to a bunch of people, and then turn around and make it a hot dog, and still try to sell it as though it was a burger… people aren’t going to want the damn hotdog… they want a damn burger. (I’m hungry!) Either way Capcom said the same thing about Resident Evil 6 when it didnt sell well. Stop trying to appeal to Call of duty fans because you’re alienating your market base… btw I loved the first 2 dead space games… hated 3… bleh!

I don’t think DS3 is super different than the others. For me it’s still a burger but with different toppings.

@ 72. Thanks . you explained it quite nicely. its really sad when people whining about something without even using the product. People shouldn’t bash Dead space 3 without playing it. Being close minded wont accomplish anything. But we cant change people.

@76 But what about people who played it and think it’s a significant step backwards from previous games?Surely some of them exist,or maybe I was imagining those necromorphs that were shooting back at me,or them “go away,this room is for co-op only” doors in my single-player campaign or the one type of ammo for every weapon thing or the clunky cover mechanic or the bullshit love triangle story………….

doesn’t matter, i just traded in my DS3 on ps3.
how can I buy a game brand new and not finding people playing online!?

DIIIIIIIIIIIIE!!! EA SHiT COMPANY!!!

I was fine with DS3 until I heard of the micro-transactions. They better pull that crap out if they want to preserve the tiny bit of credibility they have.

@79 “DUUUUUUUUH GAEMZ ARE BED COZ DA COMPANY DAT MAED TEM IS MERCNARYY!”

Grow up kiddo, the industry has changed.

@Edo: Hear hear, I couldn’t agree more. I think a significant number of the people who have played it have felt betrayed. I guess the people who feel that way – like me – didn’t sign on for a shooter.

tbh I loved Dead Space 3 more than any other game in series. But I think they need to remove co-op and multiplayer and add more actual horror and hard encounters. Weapon upgrading system was very nice, but it really makes life easy.

“At 16:39 GMT, we again questioned EA UK where the “patently false” quote had originated from. At 16:40 GMT, EA UK informed us that EA’s US team had not spoken to Gamasutra.

At 20:07 GMT, EA UK informed us that the US had prepared a revised statement, which was being issued to media on request.” Remember that the article was published by Videogamer, UK AM, and they sought clarification from the established sources on EA’s side.

“At the same time, it confirmed that its Corporate Comms team – not US PR – had spoken to Gamasutra.” “We would also like to reiterate that we ran the story in good faith, taking the necessary steps with both EA and our source to ensure that the story was as accurate, fair, and well-represented as possible.

We find it perplexing as to why EA changed its stance on its decision not to comment on rumours and speculation, especially given the opportunities that the publisher had to clarify the situation before and after VideoGamer.com published the story. We firmly deny any accusations of fabrication on our part.” http://www.videogamer.com/news/dead_space_4_videogamer_com_statement.html

The thing I found most perplexing, as an observer as this was taking place, was that at no stage did EA own its “statement” to Gamasutra. Yet, how many people took it as exactly what Gama had tweeted it out to be, without a wider source, or distribution of that particular comment. It struck me as unusual. If they were as determined to challenge, or seek to collapse the integrity of the initial report, why wouldn’t they have issued a comment to all press they have relation with, or even a cross-section based on geography, to maximise spread? What went on, here, that EA were left thoroughly wrong-footed and seeming to fly-swat in the dark…

Wow, now it becomes the click-through story for many sites. In the beginning it was just VideoGamer.

But why isn’t EA denying or confirming anything. They aren’t doing themselfs a favor, because everybody knows: where’s smoke, there’s fire.

This is getting ugly, Videogamer’s credibility is on the line here. But the million dollar question is? Who’s telling the truth?

So did E.A. officially confirm Dead Space 4? lol.. I don’t really care the only appeal that Dead Space had for me was it was true survival horror when it first came out. Dead Space 2 is good too don’t get me wrong, but i just hate the direction they are going with Dead Space 3… bleh!

As with any story there is probably a bit of truth and a bit of misinformation. Why didn’t EA immediatly respond to Videogamer.com? Well, they did. They just gave the standard “we don’t respond to rumor or speculation”.

Maybe they did’t give a more fleshed out answer because they don’t give a sh** about Videogamer.com. And maybe it was the 1000th email of the day from the 1000th website fishing for information about various EA games. Sometimes, not every email is handled with the same importance.

There probably was a meeting with Visceral concerning poor sales of the game, but maybe that meeting had nothing to do with cancelling DS4, but trying to figure out how to raise sales numbers. Who knows for sure?

if you played and beat DS 3, you can tell there’s going to be a DS 4.

No you can’t, but you CAN tell there’s gonna be some DLC.

@90

Or DLC

I agree with 2 different points here.

Firstly, Peter Moore made a VERY valid point i agree with and it is a very central reason as to why i enjoy VG247. I trust these guys. Nothing pisses me off more than some generic bullshit gaming site fabricating rumors just to get click throughs. This is why i hate and don’t treat rumors like fact. Because it’s a rumor. Personally, Videogamer can go suck a dick, but that’s just me.

Secondly, EA brought it on themselves. They are the worst games publisher/developer in the whole damned world as far as i’m concerned. The first Dead Space was an excellent game and i loved it. I enjoyed 2 and 3 as well…. but nowhere NEAR the same experience i had with the first. Why? Because of exactly what #7 stated. They have gone way too business. They do not give a damn about the game or it’s quality. They care about how much money it can make them. Look at what they did to the NFL Madden games. MoH. Etc.

I’m also not fond of EA’s DRM methods. Then again i’m not fond of DRM. Not because i support piracy, but because DRM punishes the law abiding gamer, and does little to nothing to punish the pirates.

@ 92 No one likes these DRM methods. But when i looking at EA’s always online DRM, i can say one thing. I maybe the only one in the whole world say this. I actually like EA’s always online DRM. Theres a reason I like that. its working against fucking Pirates. if you look at torrent sites you can see how many people pirate Tomb raider. its really sad to see. But im really happy about one thing.no one still didn’t cracked Simcity. IF this always online DRM works real good, I really don’t mind few server crashes on the launch. Im getting real mad when these fucking pirates steal these beautiful games. Creating a game is not easy. It takes year’s of planning. These people works day & night to bring these games to a quality product. we all know all the other DRM out there get cracked with in fix hours game released. Im sure EA DRMs get better in time.but in the meantime i say we should stand against these pirates. They are the ones who destroying this gaming industry. Not EA.

“Im getting real mad when these fucking pirates steal these beautiful games.”

To which, the typical response of publishers has so far been to heavy-handedly bring down restrictions and inconvenience upon the paying players. They’re always going for the path of least resistance, no matter the outcome. Maybe, it’s time that path stood up, and did a whole lot more resisting. http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/06/editorial-simcity-diablo-3-and-a-review-of-customer-service/

@93 Yeah? You hate pirates? How about you just think a little about what makes people pirating videogames? Take my case for instance: my main platform is the PS3, ALL my games are bought, because I know I can play them. The problem is: I really want Sim City, but I don’t if my dated computer can run it, because System Requirements, especially the ones from EA are fucked up, and they don’t release a demo. How can I know if I can run the game? What if I buy it and can’t run it? So yeah, I’m waiting for a crack, only to see if the game runs fine in my computer. If it can I buy it. Until there’s a crack or a demo EA sadly will not have my money…

Sounds like someone doesn’t have complete faith in what they’re doing.

At least he confirms that EA know that what they’re doing is controversial.

Love my job, since I’ve been bringing in $5600… I sit at home, music playing while I work in front of my new iMac that I got now that I’m making it online.(Click Home information)
http://goo.gl/VFrht

I found dead space 3 enjoyable along with the second and first. I agree that EA should let Visceral do what they think is right as it should appeal to horror gamers but I do not think it deserves the pet name “call of duty in space.” I support an upcoming Dead Space 4 and so should all true Dead Space fans. Isaac Clark’s story can’t end abruptly like at the end of LOTR fellowship, I think they can nail it on Dead Space 4 if they put in good effort and it would be neat if they brought back some of the suits from Dead Space 2 while keeping the weapon system of Dead Space 3. Customization is a plus. Cheers to all you Dead Space supporters.

I loved the first game, enjoyed the 2nd, and i am now playing through the 3rd. So far its good, but has really lost the scariness of the original.
Its more a action title, and I hate the events that happen in the game where all of a sudden you have to mash a button or die, that is a really stupid gameplay device. They need to kill that in the next games.

I do recall an article last year that stated that EA said Dead Space 3 needed to do something like 5 million sales to succeed or not get in danger or something. Was that article bullshit? Last i checked…DS3 didn’t do 5 million sales by a long shot…