I think other publishers saw Capcom selling RE2, 3 and 4 for full price and critical acclaim even though they're relatively small, mostly linear games with all the pre-production done. Made sense to try and jump on that. Apparently Dead Space didn't sell enough. Now we wait to see how Silent Hill 2 lands.
I'd argue Dead Space had the same problem as Alone in the Dark. Last entry was in 2013 and ended on a sour note for a lot of fans. These publishers need to learn that you can't just defrost a dead franchise, throw a big budget at it and expect it to sell gangbusters.
Everyone wants to be the Resident Evil remakes but they fail to realize that RE is still an
active franchise that is pumping out bangers year after year. 7 and Village were well received and sold really well by themselves. It's such a great time to be a fan of the series and the solid remakes are really just the cherry on top.
I suspect that Silent Hill 2 will have the same sales problems, even if the game itself turns out well. Dead franchise for a decade, ending on a sour note (P.T. cancellation), and Konami's first forays into resurrecting the series have been bad (Ascension and The Short Message).
And on top of that, the SH series has never been a big seller. Total series sales were 8.4 million at the end of Dec 2012. Since RE5, most Resident Evil games have sold more than that
each.