Former Dead Space writer and producer Chuck Beaver has explained that Dead Space 4 likely won’t happen due to poor sales.
Originally released in 2007, Dead Space has been a phenomenal horror franchise, but the series is once again dormant. Following underwhelming sales of the first game’s incredible remake, EA has shelved the franchise with developers at EA Motive now working on Battlefield 6.
In an upcoming episode of the FRVR Podcast, former Dead Space writer and producer Chuck Beaver explained that the “numbers just aren’t there” to support another game in the franchise. As a AAA horror series with incredible production values, a new game would likely need to sell over 10 million copies.
Beaver explained that it never felt “unfair at all” for Dead Space to be cancelled after the third game, although it was sad for the team. “It wasn’t like it didn’t get a run out of it,” he said. “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.”
The Dead Space veteran explained that, unfortunately, “the numbers aren’t there”. While they admit that the horror franchise has a “fervent fan base” that is willing to invest in additional games, that fanbase may not be big enough for the production values that entrenches the series.
“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,” he continued. “I think the number is like 15 million units now, given the cost of things.”
Beaver said that the reality of the situation is “a sadness in capitalism for all of us to suffer”, joking that this will likely be the case “until AI makes it apparently easy for you and I to just type ‘make Dead Space 4’”.
Beaver estimated that a new Dead Space title would likely have to sell around the 7 million unit mark to be seen as viable. “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.”
Nevertheless, there is no shortage of hunger to create a new game in the Dead Space franchise. Beaver explains that everyone who has worked on the franchise just wants to continue working on it, but the financials aren’t there for another single-player only horror game. While some series—such as Resident Evil—are able to sell considerably more than expected, Dead Space hasn’t been able to see that same climb.
While Dead Space itself may stay dormant for years to come, horror gaming itself is seeing a large resurgence. Alongside the heights of Resident Evil, Konami’s Silent Hill series is back and selling better than ever.
