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[Eideka]

The port was fine. But how well a ported game does on PC has no bearing on a franchises future. It does however determine the franchises future on PC if the sold poorly on said platform, like not recouping the cost of porting the game.

A good PC version could have helped them meeting EA's expectations, that's my point and as such not trying hard enough with the port cost them many sales.

But was it really a barebones port to begin with? I'd say it was quite competant, ran pretty well on even low end machines and you had so many graphical options to tweak/even including the types of AA used/even SMAA!
The only negative things I could say about the port was that it lacked advanced DX 11 options like tesselation and was capped to only 30 FPS when ingame Vsync was engaged.

No DX11 in 2013 on PC is a joke. SMAA was a nice move I admit, but in the end it didn't look good enough by PC standards.
Visceral have only themselves to blame. :/

 

[James Coote]

A tale of a great niche (horror) game making for a poor mainstream game? I don't understand why publishers tend towards go big or go home instead of just cutting budgets on games that don't do so well.

Maybe they feel it is best to have economies of scale on a smaller number of blockbusters. But that's actually a higher risk strategy, because if one flops big time, you're in an enormous hole. Publishers seem to be only able to scale in one direction

My hope is that horror will see new blood and new IP come from outside the AAA world. With things like the unreal engine or even unity, you can create games on a smaller budget/team size. Things like http://www.routinegame.com/

 

[SolidSnakex]

Obligatory:

I don't know if they'll drain the color out of the sequel, but i'd definitely expect it to be much more action focused than the original. I don't think EA will greenlight future major IP's unless they feel that it can sell 3-5m. Then you have the new micro-transaction requirement. I just don't see how the ME of old could really fit with their current mindset. They were much more experimental early on this gen. That seems to be all gone at this point.

 

[diamount]

I'm surprised to hear about a 4th title even being in developement. Awakened DLC is out this month so I imagine that it's then.

Oh yea also don't announce DLC before the game has released.

A sequel is always in pre-production.

 

[Aostia]

Wut? I don't trust this rumor, up to now.
Btw I'd be pissed off, because DS1 was one of the best games of the gen, but somehow not so surpirsed considering how the action-shooting twist they add was bad received.

 

[Mogwai]

The Dead Space series will be remembered as a textbook example on how NOT to milk a franchise.

 

[Shane86]

Well at least we'll always have Dead Space 1, easily the best survival horror game this gen.

 

[CadetMahoney]

Should photoshop "- devs" at the end.

 

[ToLateToLove]

Third game and late in the generation, of course it wasn't going to sell. If they would release a fourth game early on PS4/720 it would sell. It has been like this with many games.

 

[SirIgbyCeaser]

So is this a trend in the industry (low sales) or is it just because the game sucked?

If it's a trend in sales I wonder if BioshockI and Tomb Raider will suffer the same fate.

It wont... because that's a franchise well known by anybody. While dead space is more niche.

Bioshock has had better sales than any dead space game, meaning both these titles have a much higher budget, but also are more likely to have superior day 1 sales.

Dead Space 3, came at an awkward time, to mediocre reviews, and with not much marketing support from EA.

 

[Zampano]

Huh. I find it really strange how dependent titles are on first month sales. I've been buying a lot fewer new releases lately - they are expensive and time consuming when I have a backlog. I fully intend to get round to DS3 when I can though. There's just so much competition these days and not everything can be a AAA multi-million selling blockbuster. Sad stuff.

 

[Miroku129]

Electronic Arts, please die. Thanks.

 

[mclem]

That's true. They would only be pumping out GT, Uncharted and GoW every year. They obviously need to cancel franchises that loose money but they don't mind having lots of games with less than spectacular profits so they can have a nice variety in their portfolio.

To be fair, though, they're a console manufacturer; they have a slightly different goal when producing games than a third party. In their position, it's reasonable for a game to not make massive profits if it entices more people into their ecosystem.

 

[The Xtortionist]

Wut? I don't trust this rumor, up to now.
Btw I'd be pissed off, because DS1 was one of the best games of the gen, but somehow not so surpirsed considering how the action-shooting twist they add was bad received.

Dead Space has always been heavily action-based. And DS3 actually has the most difficult puzzles in the series.

 

[Cpt.Underpants]

I guess the "Broader audience" didn't work

 

[DXB-KNIGHT]

EA Executive: We at EA want a sequel with attitude. It''s actiony, it's "XTREME" You've heard the expressions, "Duuuude" or "Brooo"? Well, this is a sequel thats "Straight-Up Dawg!" Consistently and thoroughly.

 

[Reigan]

This news is unpossible.

 

[Bigjelly]

Shitty as it is I think EA is going to shift a lot of teams from console to handheld in the future.

 

[Majanew]

Good news. Would hate to see what EA would do to the franchise for DS4 to increase the series' sales, again. I thought the DS3 demo was fun, but next gen is too close for me to care about most of these games coming soon/just released.

 

[inHallways]

If this is all true then it is remarkably sad.

I would love to think that this may teach EA a lesson about how to approach iterating upon a well regarded IP but I am sad to say it appears they are not interested in learning any lessons. They look to have decided upon a business model which they see as the future and as the only appropriate route to take... any failures experienced while applying said model appear to be seen as failures outside of the model itself.

Sad to say I am not sure I want a Mirror's Edge sequel any longer. Not from EA at least.

 

[hteng]

Hardcore gaming is doomed

 

[diamount]

A good PC version could have helped them meeting EA's expectations, that's my point and as such not trying hard enough with the port cost them many sales.

Err no, it really wouldn't. It's pretty much common knowledge PC is the least performing platform, of course it's better than it was but certainly nothing to shout about. Again if they decided to give DS3 all the bells and whistles, they wouldn't of made their money back and probably no more games of that series on PC.

Only BF3 is capable of doing that.

 

[M.D]

Dantes Inferno 2 incoming then

Will release a month before God of War 4 for full sales potential

 

[maniac-kun]

 

[ElzarTheBam]

I really hope this isn't true.

 

[Majanew]

If this is all true then it is remarkably sad.

I would love to think that this may teach EA a lesson about how to approach iterating upon a well regarded IP but I am sad to say it appears they are not interested in learning any lessons. They look to have decided upon a business model which they see as the future and as the only appropriate route to take... any failures experienced while applying said model appear to be seen as failures outside of the model itself.

Sad to say I am not sure I want a Mirror's Edge sequel any longer. Not from EA at least.

Yeah, you Mirror's Edge fans better prepared for "broader appeal" ME2 if it shows up.

 

[digoutyoursoul]

If this is all true then it is remarkably sad.

I would love to think that this may teach EA a lesson about how to approach iterating upon a well regarded IP but I am sad to say it appears they are not interested in learning any lessons. They look to have decided upon a business model which they see as the future and as the only appropriate route to take... any failures experienced while applying said model appear to be seen as failures outside of the model itself.

Sad to say I am not sure I want a Mirror's Edge sequel any longer. Not from EA at least.

If we are to get another Mirrors Edge I bet it will be 3rd person with jumping mechanics similar to Tomb Raider/Creed with new weapons, skins and special sauce trainers as micro transactions

 

[CadetMahoney]

I am not sure I want a Mirror's Edge sequel any longer. Not from EA at least.

I am not feeling it myself anymore either.

 

[Deleted member 59090]

Thank god. At least one trilogy will remain a trilogy.

 

[Zabka]

When I finished the game in november, I knew it was the end for Dead Space as a series. The pressures of the industry moved the series into another genre. And thus we got the shooty/less scary game with a pretty good coop campaign. They (EA) thought they had the next best thing and that's what they were sold by Visceral. EA was setting it up for fail then and I knew their expectations would be too high on the series to carry it forward.

All of our personal data was manipulated to show EA that the game was fantastic and that it had little to no faults. The problem's were glaringly evident, even if the game was actually not bad.

I find it funny that nothing has happened to the Aliens:CM team after that clusterduck yet Visceral get's screwed. I hope EA wasn't expecting Army of Two to sell given its competition.

:/

EA forces gameplay changes to generate extra revenue. Devs manipulate data to make it look effective. Everyone loses.

 

[Vagabundo]

One DS game was enough. The story wasn't strong enough for more.

 

[mclem]

Good luck with that, Mirror's Edge.

"We've *really* worked on the gunplay in Mirror's Edge 2, it's so much better than the first!"

 

[AJ_Wings]

Dead Space has always been heavily action-based. And DS3 actually has the most difficult puzzles in the series.

As someone who only played the first two games, that's the impression I always got with Dead Space. It's not a malevolently, psychological horror trip like the Silent Hills, Penumberas and Amnesia. I saw it as Visceral's take on RE4's mechanics and an incredibly successful one at that.

Knowing EA, it's probably because of an over-inflated budget or aggressive marketing that was impossible for Dead Space 3's sales expectations to meet that lead to this situation.

 

[Saty]

I'm fine with this. But the ones who should be paying the price are the higher-ups who made those decisions and not the studio.

1. Modestly successful second game.
2. Insatiably demand every game you put to sell more than 5M copies instead of buttoning-down the budget.

3. Increase budget of DS3 in order to chase the mainstream audience (co-op inclusion). Undermine what made the series resonate with fans; ignore negative impressions of your new game by the group of ppl who are most likely to buy it day 1.

4. This more mainstream entry which had bigger budget sells worse than the second game.
5. The studio is closed instead of firing the higher-ups at EA who made and led these decisions.

The gall.

 

[Eideka]

Err no, it really wouldn't. It's pretty much common knowledge PC is the least performing platform, of course it's better than it was but certainly nothing to shout about. Again if they decided to give DS3 all the bells and whistles, they wouldn't of made their money back and probably no more games of that series on PC.

Only BF3 is capable of doing that.

I believe otherwise. You can do well on PC if you try hard enough.

 

[d1rtn4p]

Great to hear. I for one am ready for our new indie overlords.

 

[Spookie]

I genuinely feel sorry for the devs who this will no doubt have an impact on but I echo the sentiment of everyone else: EA gave people a game nobody wanted and paid for it.

 

[Rhazer Fusion]

I never knew Dead Space was considered to be that popular. Expecting 5 million units is kind of high, isn't it? Those are COD and Halo-type numbers. How well did DS1 and DS2 perform? Sad that DS4 got canceled because I actually like the DS franchise.

 

[Jowy]

You mean cramming in microtransactions and dudebroing our game out can have negative effects on sales? Well damn, better cancel the entire series rather than undo our douchebaggery then!

This.

 

[CosmicQueso]

I believe otherwise. You can do well on PC if you try hard enough.

If you're blizzard. You vastly overestimate the size of the PC market.

 

[diamount]

I believe otherwise. You can do well on PC if you try hard enough.

Of course you can but most publishers don't have that confidence.

 

[Meatvillain]

At least I got three games that I really enjoyed. The series may not have followed the trajectory I had imagined/hoped it would when playing the first Dead Space, but that didn't stop the next two games from being extremely enjoyable and well-made games.

 

[Bedlam]

Good going, EA! Systematically sabotage your IPs by mainstreaming the shit out of the sequels and forcing microtransactions into them and then wonder why gamers puke all over it.

I gladly bought Dead Space 1. I didn't care for the sequels. I bought Mass Effect 1&2, I didn't care for the sequel. And while I never bought Dragon Age 1, I know a lot of people who did but didn't care for the sequel. Notice a pattern there, EA?

 

[captainnapalm]

Co-op was dumb, I will admit that. Don't sully my single-player adventure with shoe-horned co-op, thanks. And of all franchises to try and bolster with co-op, you choose freaking Dead Space, a game built on creepy ambience?

So Dead Space is dead, now howsabout replacing it with an epic sci-fi action adventure that will surely have more mass appeal? I honestly think there's a gap in the market for a really cool futuristic sci-fi adventure. Mass Effect minus the RPG stuff.

 

[Feindflug]

They're just saying this to build up hype for Dead Space: Resurrection in a few years.

Yeah reboot this shit with automatic platforming, cinematic set-pieces, XP/collecting useless crap to level up so you can buy useless upgrades, optional horror sidequests and a visceral/emotional story.

This whole "X game didn't do good sales wise, let's scrap this" logic when they don't even bother to find the reasons behind this is so fucked up...and people still think a Mirror's Edge 2 by this EA is a good idea.

 

[elfinke]

Poor Visceral. Knowing that the many faults of DS3 lie at the publishers feet bums me out.

 

[whatevermort]

It doesn't really matter whether those faults were truly there or not: They gave the public the perception that those things were there, and consequently, it hurt the sales of the game.

I think you think the public care more about that stuff than they do.

 

[eshwaaz]

At least I got three games that I really enjoyed. The series may not have followed the trajectory I had imagined/hoped it would when playing the first Dead Space, but that didn't stop the next two games from being extremely enjoyable and well-made games.

Agreed. There were things about Dead Space 3 that absolutely rubbed me the wrong way, but I still found the majority of the experience very enjoyable.

Visceral is an amazingly talented team. I really hope they don't get gutted.

 

[K' Dash]

Pretty fucking pathetic what Dead Space turned into.

Wouldn't even go near DS3 after some of the reviews and micro-transactions in there as well?!? Smh

You'd be glad to know that what you're saying is complete bullshit.

 

[Eideka]

Of course you can but most publishers don't have that confidence.

Given the piracy rate, I can understand that but it's a no brainer that in order to maximize the sales on PC you should stop releasing barebone ports.

That's fine if they have no interest in doing that, but they better don't act all surprised when the PC SKU sells poorly.

PC gamers reward good work and have high standards, if publishers don't want to come up to this level that's their loss.