Updated: 04/10/2024, 2:10 p.m. ET: Shortly after this story was published, EA sent a comment to IGN denying that a Dead Space 2 remake was ever being developed or had been cancelled.
“We don’t normally comment on rumors but there is no validity to this story,” an EA spokesperson told IGN. Kotaku has reached out to EA about this situation.
Original story continues below.
EA and Motive were reportedly working on a Dead Space 2 remake as a follow-up to the studio’s critically acclaimed 2023 remake of the 2008 survival horror game. However, due to “lackluster sales,” that game has allegedly been shelved indefinitely and the team behind it is now working on Battlefield instead.
On April 9, EA announced future plans for the Battlefield franchise, its highly popular online military shooter series. The bad news: Battlefield 2042’s current season would be its last. But EA confirmed Dice was working on the future of the series. The publisher also revealed that Motive Studios—the developer behind the Dead Space remake and Star Wars: Squadrons—would now be helping out and providing support for the Battlefield franchise while it also continued working on an Iron Man game. However, some folks wondered: What does this mean for Dead Space? And the answer is, reportedly, not good.
On Wednesday’s edition of the Giant Bomb Game Mess Mornings, journalist Jeff Grubb reported that Motive and EA were at one point working on a Dead Space 2 remake, but that game has been shelved due to the first remaking selling poorly.
“[Motive was] working on a Dead Space 2 [remake] and they are no longer working on it,” claimed Grubb. “It is on the shelf because the first game had ‘lackluster sales’ is how it was phrased to me. If you were looking forward to a Dead Space 2 [remake] it’s bad news. It’s bad news. It straight-up is just bad news.”
Kotaku has asked EA for more information about the situation.
According to Grubb, the Dead Space 2 remake was still in pre-production, but all that work has been “put on the shelf” and the studio has fully pivoted to Iron Man and Battlefield.
Grubb says he’s unsure if the remake of the classic sci-fi horror sequel is dead forever, but for now at least, it’s not happening. In that same stream, he also implied that the plan was for the Dead Space remake to be the start of more remakes and new entries in the franchise. All of that seems unlikely now, too.
It’s a shame to see EA following the Activision playbook of taking teams and forcing them to work on the company’s big popular shooter franchise the moment a project doesn’t set the world on fire. But then again, I guess I’m just happy that these developers are still employed and not just laid off like the thousands of other game devs in 2024. Regardless, I hope Motive and the team are given another chance to make more Dead Space.
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