EA Aims to "Broaden" Dead Space Audience

[Emiscary]

It will remain a horror game

Will attempt to broaden its audience

Pick one.

Welcome to this gaming gen, where corporations are so cartoonishly greedy, it's not enough to pull sales from any one crowd; they must pull sales from EVERY CROWD, at once! Can't be done, sorry EA. The more action-game you make it, the less horror it will be. This isn't opinion, it is indisputable fact. Pro tip:you cannot make the best romance movie if it is also trying to be a blockbuster horror movie. You cannot make the world's best pepperoni pizza if you keep adding all the other toppings. Etc. Etc. Etc.

You NEED to sell 5 million copies? No you don't. You created an unnecessary situation that demands you do. If making these games has gotten so ludicrously expensive, it's because you made them luxuriously expensive. I would be willing to bet money that the team making this 3rd game is what.. 2x.. 3x larger then the team who made the first Dead Space game? Maybe bigger? And why do you have to pay so many more people? To do all those crazy cinematics and make the game more actiony/Gears, right? Here's a thought, instead of changing the game in a way that would make it so much more expensive to produce and then telling us we have to buy this new lackluster version because it's more expensive, why not make it the way it was before? You know, the way you could afford to make it? Clearly that pulled in enough of a profit to spawn two sequels, so you should get just enough of an audience to more then pay for the production costs. Don't fumble the ball then ask us to pay for your mistakes, especially when you fumbled from getting too greedy.

But perhaps I am the fool. I am the one trying to talk reason to the worst company in America. I wish i could say that explains everything, but the 'graveyard of titans' from this gen is one that spans every walk of life. This is not how a Console generation should end.

Really wish I had the disposable income/time to buy you a beer sir.

Well spoken.

 

[Combustion Kevin]

people are not buying dead space for the gears of war-style action, therefore the old fanbase will be discouraged to get it.

the others already have gears of war, so they'll not get it.

me, I hope they keep the tenze atmosphere broken up by harrowing encounters, that's what I bought it for, comparable to DOOM 3.

and five million? please, EA is going down the drain like this for sure, we're going to see it die down considerably over the next few years and see others fill the gap, hopefully.

 

[Piflik]

The thing is...people who want to play Gears of War already have Gears of War and they will buy the next Gears of War.

Why are EA insisting on catering SEQUELS of a games to people who DIDN'T buy the first games? If you really want to make a shooter than don't bastardize a established game of a different genre...

 

[theultimateend]

Five million? Why? Lower your freaking costs.

Smarter than 99% of major development teams.

How exactly are you not a batrillionaire!

I'm being silly but this is the simple answer.

 

[Worr Monger]

It will be even more hilarious when they make it Origin exclusive.....

 

[tmande2nd]

Oh sweet bloody Talos.....

1) A studio makes a good game that has a few fans (Dragon Age/Command and Conquer)
2) EA buys them out and makes a so/so game out of this (Dragon Age 2)
3)EA copies what other games do that are popular at the moment for the next game (Mass Effect 3)
4) Said game pisses off any fans left from step 1/2 since its not what they wanted, and no new fans come in at step 3.
5) Slaughter the company and move on.

Leaving a dead company, a dead IP, pissed off fans, but at least Electronic Arts made some more money.

Please someone in the industry DONT SELL YOUR COMPANY TO EA!

 

[Pinkamena]

Ah, yes... I remember when I had played through the original Dead Space. I had high hopes for the sequels. Thanks for ruining what could have been a pretty good survival horror franchise, EA. Love ya.

 

[NiPah]

Thank god EA won't put it on sale though, wouldn't want to ruin an IP that you're actively trying to end.

But I guess Valve is just as bad as EA because... oh wait... at least we can blame the hate of origin on Valve fanboys right? right? fuck...

 

[shrekfan246]

1) A studio makes a good game that has a few fans (Dragon Age/Command and Conquer)

While I don't really disagree with what you've posted, I think it's hilarious that you've singled out Dragon Age: Origins as Bioware's example. Considering it was released after they were acquired by EA.

 

[ElPatron]

So they will make a shooter that shooter fans won't recognize as an established shooter franchise, and at the same time alienate the existing fanbase?

In a perfect world they wouldn't sell one single game even if they were selling a bundle with two copies.

The game better be a frigging awesome shooter otherwise they will be ripping off a lot of people from their time and money. Somehow I just want this game to fail. This and Resident Evil 6.

 

[RJ 17]

Soooooo if 5 million is the benchmark...anyone gone through the list yet to spell out which franchise have failed to hit that number and thus - by EA standards - should have immediately been axed? I just really can't help but feel that a large number of their sports games should have ended a long time ago... (could easily be wrong, it's just my hunch).

As for the "We're changing it to appeal to broader audiences" statement...yyyeeeeeeeeah. Anyone translate that as "We're going to butcher the out of this series until it's a generic, bland, rolled-off-the-assembly-line 3rd person shooter." DS 1 was pretty creepy. DS 2 had it's moments...DS 3 doesn't even take place in space and they broke the 1 major rule of horror games: isolation. You can't really even get a good "startle scare" (which is all DS can hang its hat on) if you've got a budy that's equally overpowered as you are walking right beside you.

It didn't work for Resident Eviil 5, it's not going to work for Resident Evil 6, and it sure as hell isn't going to work for Dead Space 3. They're taking the game out of "survival horror" and tossing it into 3rd person action"" from the sound of things.

 

[Gitty101]

Still holding out hope for this one, but EA has clearly demonstrated they have COMPLETELY lost the plot this time round. Adding Co-Op in survival horror? Stupid. Look at Resi5. Trying to sell 5 million units? Very difficult in this market. Claiming 5 million units is the only thing to keep them investing in Dead Space IPs... ridiculous. They will NOT sell that many and by 'broadening' their target audience, it risks losing its identity and becoming yet another mediocre game on the market.

It seems EA really wants to have their cake and eat it.

 

[SecondPrize]

I hate to say it but sometimes I wish the video-game industry "dies" again because we'll come out the other side without these tools.

 

[Corporal Yakob]

I'm going to do my part because I want to see more arctic Helghast in DS4!

 

[jhoroz]

Like the way they "broadened" Mass Effect 3 with bullshit multiplayer and day one DLC? Yeah, fuck you EA. Way to turn another great franchise into a colossal cash-cow.

 

[iniudan]

Well, we'd make a horror game- but those don't make millions upon millions of dollars.

These are the same pricks who like a week ago claimed to want to be indie.

Although this does serve to illustrate a point. Namely that it takes EA precisely 3 games to ruin a franchise completely with their "broadening".

The simple fact that they've turned to Michael Bay for ideas should be proof enough of that. I mean Christ, the man only knows how to do two things:

Pimp military hardware & blow shit up.

And games have entirely too much of both at present.

Sorry but I don't find there is enough game of purely blowing shit up.

/go and play Blast Corps and Rampage. =p

 

[zachusaman]

bold move EA, giving your fanbase the middle finger and hoping to get 5 million new fans by saying that the scary parts are no longer scary and its now a call of duty in space clone...

 

[Lugbzurg]

EA,

Do you want to know how to ruin the appeal of a horror game? There are many ways, but subtracting any sense of vulnerability from the protagonist is a pretty good one.

Exactly. This is why I don't consider Left 4 Dead to be a survival horror game. It's fun, but, there's no horror whatsoever, and no survival elements, either.

If you need to sell 5 million copies for it to be profitable, something is messed up with your business strategy and/or management.

Yeah, really. These days, you only need to sell one million copies for a game to be considered a hit.

"broaden the audience" i.e. change core game dynamics in a vain attempt to market to people that didn't like the game previously

I just don't understand what logic people see in doing this.

Well, say goodbye to Dead Space after this, guys.

This.

EA... just wow. You literally cannot make shit up that's more wrong headed and greedy than what these guys come out with on an almost daily basis.

If any of my favourite game series were under the sway of EA I'd be fearing for their survival right about now.

I fear for FancyPants Adventures and Plants vs. Zombies.

Well, we'd make a horror game- but those don't make millions upon millions of dollars.

These are the same pricks who like a week ago claimed to want to be indie.

Although this does serve to illustrate a point. Namely that it takes EA precisely 3 games to ruin a franchise completely with their "broadening".

The simple fact that they've turned to Michael Bay for ideas should be proof enough of that. I mean Christ, the man only knows how to do two things:

Pimp military hardware & blow shit up.

And games have entirely too much of both at present.

They... seriously did that...? Wow... Stephen Spielberg, Tim Burton... They would make a lot more sense. But, Michael Bay? Who are they gonna go for, next? James Cameron!? And that whole "indie" thing... Just "wow"... They could just make smaller games with lower graphics levels and such. Super Meat Boy, Minecraft, and even Portal weren't big-budget projects or even big, at all! And look how popular they are, today!

EA spends more money on marketing than on actual development. How the fuck are they still in business?

What this basically means is something along the lines of this:

"We're not happy with how limited Dead Space fanbase is. So we're gonna use the name Dead Space since it's a well known IP, and we're gonna make it into another mindless shooter. It will piss off a lot of existing fans, but it will hopefully get us a lot of dumb shooter fans. So it's all good. Hey, maybe some of original Dead Space fans will still want to buy the game."

I couldn't care less. I don't like Dead Space. Sucks to be a fan of certain game series these days.

This is why I'm really missing Sonic, Banjo, Frogger, 007, and Army Men.

Thank god EA won't put it on sale though, wouldn't want to ruin an IP that you're actively trying to end.

But I guess Valve is just as bad as EA because... oh wait... at least we can blame the hate of origin on Valve fanboys right? right? fuck...

Valve releases games on PC CD-ROM, DVD ROM, PlayStation 3, and X-Box 360. They're going over to the Wii U, as well. However, they don't make these games have to be activated or have any connection whatsoever with Steam to do anything. They are very generous.

 

[V8 Ninja]

And THIS is why I say video game budgets are getting ridiculous; a game needs to sell 5 MILLION COPIES to be commercially viable? Not only that, but games are a premium entertainment; it's not like anybody can go buy a video game the same way they can go buy a movie ticket. On top of that, $60 multiplied by 5,000,000 is around $300m. Why is EA even throwing close to $300m into Dead Space 3? Does EA really expect sales to more than double just based off of a name alone? Look, EA, games sales do not act exponentially.

 

[Kerboom]

I enjoyed Dead Space.

The first one, not the second.

Nope. Not one bit. Dead Space didn't make me jump at all, but it was still entertaining.

Dead Space 2 was a bit crap. It felt like a mindless shooter, and if they're saying they'll make Dead Space 3 "more accessible", I'm definitely not buying it.

I would've liked to see how the story panned out, but oh well.

I might rent it or borrow it off a friend (though we all know I won't get access to half the content on the disk because I don't buy it first-hand).