And all hopes of a Dead Space 4 are dead
Sadly, we regret to inform you that the studio behind the title, Visceral Games, is shutting down. So if you were holding out for any possibility of a Dead Space 4 being released, it looks like that’s not happening. At least during your lifetime, so you can stop now. This news comes from a blog post from EA Executive Vice President Patrick Söderlund.
The studio produced two amazing Dead Space games ( we do not speak of the 3rd game) and went on to develop Battlefield: Hardlines. Before this announcement, they were working on a new Star Wars game with Amy Heming. However, upon reading this blog post, it would seem that the game is either canned or moving in another direction.
Our Visceral studio has been developing an action-adventure title set in the Star Wars universe. In its current form, it was shaping up to be a story-based, linear adventure game. Throughout the development process, we have been testing the game concept with players, listening to the feedback about what and how they want to play, and closely tracking fundamental shifts in the marketplace. It has become clear that to deliver an experience that players will want to come back to and enjoy for a long time to come, we needed to pivot the design.
We will maintain the stunning visuals, authenticity in the Star Wars universe, and focus on bringing a Star Wars story to life. Importantly, we are shifting the game to be a broader experience that allows for more variety and player agency, leaning into the capabilities of our Frostbite engine and reimagining central elements of the game to give players a Star Wars adventure of greater depth and breadth to explore.
Our Visceral studio will be ramping down and closing, and we’re in the midst of shifting as many of the team as possible to other projects and teams at EA.
I’m a huge fan of the first two Dead Space games. As such, I always hoped we’d see the fourth game. One that would erase or at least repair the damage done when Dead Space 3 hit the scene. Now, it would seem that this won’t happen at all. Here’s to hoping that those who don’t get moved to a new team in the EA cog and that they land on their feet.
Update: 2K Games has already tweeted out that they have some openings. If you’re a Visceral Games member affected, hit 2K Games.
https://twitter.com/vansau/status/920385861916680192
Update 2: Now Ubisoft is also offering jobs for any displaced former Visceral Games members. Good stuff, gang!
https://twitter.com/UbisoftStudioSF/status/920372877697859584
As for you, Dead Space, you deserved so much more. A groundbreaking sci-fi horror survival game that barely scratched the surface. Now we’ll never see how much more you could have evolved.
Either way, now’s as good as any time to play Dead Space 1 and 2. If you haven’t played them and are a horror-survival genre fan, you should check them out. As for me, I’ll be playing through both of them this we. It will be my way of a proper send-off for Visceral Games.
