He gave a simple, though unfortunately understandable, reason why a fourth installment in the franchise will likely never be made.

Dead Space is one of the longest-running horror game series, with its three games released during the seventh-generation console era securing a permanent place in the hearts of many young gamers. A decade after Dead Space 3 failed to replicate the success of the first two games, the highly popular 2023 remake of the original game, developed by Motive Studio, reignited hopes for a massive comeback of the series. However, that won’t happen, according to Chuck Beaver, one of the game’s original writers and producers.

In an interview with FRVR, Beaver spoke about the franchise and admitted what fans of the series don’t want to hear: the 2023 remake likely marks the end of Dead Space. We’ve known for a while that the franchise is on hiatus following the Dead Space Remake. In 2024, it emerged that the Dead Space 2 Remake was never greenlit. Not to mention the 2024 rumor that Electronic Arts rejected a proposal for a fourth game, which, long before Beaver’s comments, made it highly doubtful that a fourth game would ever be made. Still, as one of the series’ original creative leads, Beaver’s remarks seem to be the final nail in the coffin of the idea that Dead Space 4 could ever be released. He acknowledges that the game clearly has a strong fan base, but the series’ sales potential simply isn’t worthwhile to Electronic Arts.

“Dead Space got a good run. It’s disappointing that we couldn’t bring the beloved franchise to its logical end, but I guess I’m too much of a producer; I’ve been producing for too long. I understand the numbers and why Motive wasn’t greenlit for anything after the remake. The numbers aren’t there. Horror games have a bit of a ceiling. I think the number was 5 million units back in former Electronic Arts vice president Frank Gibeau’s day to keep going with Dead Space. I think it’s more like 15 million units now, given the cost of things,” said Beaver when talking about how it felt when the series was initially shelved following 2013’s Dead Space 3.

While he doesn’t explicitly state that Dead Space needs to sell 15 million copies, Beaver claims that sales figures approaching 7 million would be a good result. However, even this highlights just how much ground Dead Space would have to make up, as the 2023 remake reportedly sold only just over two million copies. This is no small achievement, but it’s not enough to convince executives to greenlight another installment.

If we’re still craving another Dead Space game, our last hope is that Glen Schofield convinces Electronic Arts to sell him the IP. That way, EA is out of the picture, and Schofield can make the Dead Space game he wants, hopefully with several members of the original team, such as Beaver.

Source: WCCFTech, FRVR