The rumor mill is in full effect once again. If these rumors are to be taken seriously, then it seems that EA is looking to revive a once dormant franchise at their upcoming EA Play Live event. What’s even more interesting is that the franchise in question appears to be Dead Space.
The rumors first began when Jeff Grubb of GamesBeat spoke in live stream, saying that EA Motive, the studio behind Star Wars: Squadron, was working on a fan-favorite IP. Speculation had gone rampant, as many had begun as to what the franchise in question could be, especially as many latched onto Grubb’s line of, “We’re going to see it… if we’re not dead first.”
Now, merely a few weeks after those initial reports came out, multiple outlets such as Gematsu and GamesBeat are confirming that game to be Dead Space. But, this installment is actually a reimagining of the first game rather than a sequel to the original trilogy, with many improvements. EA Motive is rumored to be taking inspiration from Capcom’s recent Resident Evil remakes. Similar to Resident Evil 2 Remake, the next Dead Space will use the original game as a foundation. We can also expect new gameplay mechanics inspired by past entries in the series.
Dead Space has been dormant for some time now. After rumors many years ago that the series was going on ice due to poor sales, it seems that EA truly looking at Capcom for inspiration. With how successful Capcom’s Resident Evil remakes have been as well as the popularity of the horror genre rising again, it is no surprise that EA would look to bring back a horror franchise of their own. Not only this, but EA has seemed more open to working on single-player centric games, especially with how well-received Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order was.
While EA still looks to pursue their strategy of live service games, it sounds like they may be having a bit of a change of heart when it comes to single-player adventures. While live-service games allow for those games to become successful over time, it seems EA is more understanding now of what players want to see from these single-player driven games.
Learning from games such as Mirrors Edge: Catalyst and moving on to make Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order shows that EA has learned from their past. Again, these are all just rumors. In the meantime, the gaming world will just have to wait and see what EA has in store for us.