The DEAD SPACE Thread

[hellrizer]

Dead space is awesome in every single way and Its something thats makes all the horror gamers piss in their pants. (I know I did) I just wished they put something that is similar to a pump-action shotgun. I would have loved that.

[Pikminister]

Well after the lackluster DS3, the word on the street is that Dead Space (the series/franchise) is as good as dead as far as EA is concerned.

Going into next gen, EA is going to eliminate from its portfolio any games that are not likely to bring 'em huge boatloads of cash or/and that meet their lofty expectations. Here's how they put it:

Blake J. Jorgensen - Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President

"Let me start. This is Blake. I'll start with the operating margin question around the console transition.

I think as everyone knows, we've given guidance over the last year that we were spending roughly $100 million a year on next-gen development.

We've continued to include that in our expenses.

What we've done is we've gone through a very detailed process to eliminate expenses associated with products that either aren't growing or aren't large enough or aren't on platforms that we feel are long-term viable in the industry."

EA's plan for next gen is to build up new IP/Licenses and try to make those profitable (like the Star Wars IP). Previous IP's that didn't turn out too good (as it didn't make them lots of $$$) will be given the boot.

Shinji Mikami is our only hope now.

[Beanovsky Durst]

That fucking sucks. Dead Space 3 sure had flaws... Why not actually doing a good game so it will sell instead of trying to milk our tities off with microtransactions and rushed projects (which was definetly the case with DS3)?

[Graco]

They should have stuck with their original plan of concluding the storyline at 3. Now we're left with a cliffhanger that will never be answered.

But yeah, I got tired of blowing away millions of enemies every time I opened a door in DS3. Props to them putting in the effort to maintain a solo experience with the co-op being implemented.

[Beanovsky Durst]

They should have stuck with their original plan of concluding the storyline at 3. Now we're left with a cliffhanger that will never be answered.

Play Mass Effect 3. Replace Shepard & Reapers for Isaac & Necromoons.

[Pikminister]

More on this story:

GameSpot: "Big-budget shooters Crysis 3 and Dead Space 3 did not meet Electronic Arts' sales expectations, despite topping sales charts, the company revealed today in a post-earnings financial call.

EA CFO Blake Jorgensen said sales of these titles "came in below our forecast." Specific sales figures for the games were not divulged.

Dead Space 3 sold 605,000 units and was the top-selling title in the United States during its February launch month, according to NPD data.

Crysis 3 was also released in February and was the month's third best-selling game in the US, moving 205,000 copies, according to the research group. "

So Crysis might also bite the big one at EA. The good news there is that Crytek owns the IP and they could take it elsewhere. To another publisher.

[Dracarys]

So what other series is meeting the chopping block?

Dead Space
Crysis
Army of Two?
Medal of Honour?
?

[alexdz]

Oh god yes, please!

http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/05/09/john-carpenter-wants-to-make-a-dead-space-film

[Pikminister]

Oh god yes, please!

http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/05/...ead-space-film

*Wearing my nostalgia glasses*

YES! Someone make it happen!

*Takes off glasses*

(Looking at his recent films) Carpenter has seen better days.

[GuardhouseMusic]

Yeah, truth be told the man has not released a good film since 1995.

[Rombie]

More on this story:

GameSpot: "Big-budget shooters Crysis 3 and Dead Space 3 did not meet Electronic Arts' sales expectations, despite topping sales charts, the company revealed today in a post-earnings financial call.

EA CFO Blake Jorgensen said sales of these titles "came in below our forecast." Specific sales figures for the games were not divulged.

Dead Space 3 sold 605,000 units and was the top-selling title in the United States during its February launch month, according to NPD data.

Crysis 3 was also released in February and was the month's third best-selling game in the US, moving 205,000 copies, according to the research group. "

So Crysis might also bite the big one at EA. The good news there is that Crytek owns the IP and they could take it elsewhere. To another publisher.

This is fucked up. Same thing with Tomb Raider/Square Enix. They all recorded decent review scores and decent sales but because companies expecting blockbusters and are over investing on greater return they're considered a failure.

This same system started fucking Japan over a while ago (keep talking about trying to make some sort of smash hit to meet CoD or GTA sale levels) you think people would learn. Years ago it would be considered successful for any game to meet a million sales worldwide and highly so for 2 or more. The maximum sales potential for any average game hasn't greatly changed so why people think that everything has to sell millions is beyond me.

[Beanovsky Durst]

Oh god yes, please!

http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/05/...ead-space-film

Now that would be interesting...

If there's someone who could pull off a Necromorph is John Carpenter:


Just needs to stick to what made The Thing and Dead Space so good. There's no apparent way to fuck that up.

[Pikminister]

This is fucked up. Same thing with Tomb Raider/Square Enix. They all recorded decent review scores and decent sales but because companies expecting blockbusters and are over investing on greater return they're considered a failure.

This same system started fucking Japan over a while ago (keep talking about trying to make some sort of smash hit to meet CoD or GTA sale levels) you think people would learn. Years ago it would be considered successful for any game to meet a million sales worldwide and highly so for 2 or more. The maximum sales potential for any average game hasn't greatly changed so why people think that everything has to sell millions is beyond me.

Its kinda depressing actually. This whole situation. Everyone is chasing $$$$ these days.

Even Nintendo. I was reading Nintendo's recent Q&A with investors. The President of Nintendo was explaining that making HD games is very challenging for them. He said that its hard to sell HD games for $50-$60 dlls to consumers that are starting to feel like games shouldn't be so expensive (I guess because of how you can buy games for .99 on smartphones). And unless a game sells in the millions, they cannot make a profit. Iwata said: "All games break even if they sell millions of copies worldwide, so we will continue to do our best to develop games which have high sales potential."

That's the same mentality Square, EA and everyone in the business has.

Capcom recently said that because game development costs are going to go up with next gen consoles, they are not going to make many games at first. They'll probably go with more sequels to their most profitable IPs. Not taking many chances.

[Rombie]

That's what EA should be saying instead though. I can understand waiting until next gen has a far bigger install base to sell new IP's and that you grow that base with sequels people want. But this whole blockbuster viewpoint needs to go. It's the same shit that weakens the diversity in the film industry yet no one sees the parallel.

Console gamers are down in numbers too due to mobile and social network gaming, and I get that. Except that most people are dissatisfied with 95% of those games especially the freeimum shit.

Companies need to start looking and the actual development cost/time more against realistic sales targets and stop relying upon stuff like Metacritic as a good benchmark. But I don't see those things changing sadly.

[Pikminister]

That's what EA should be saying instead though.

You mean what Capcom is going to do next gen? But EA is saying that.

You see, next gen they'll make sequels to their most profitable IPs (FIFA, Madden) and make games based on new IPs that have the most potential to bring them money (Star Wars). While the IPs that are not bringing in the cash, will be put to sleep for a while (or put down for good).

This is the same thing that SEGA did, BTW. They gave up and cancelled projects that weren't considered profitable and said that only their most profitable/valuable IP's would be protected: Sonic the Hedgehog, Aliens, Total War, and Football Manager. That's why they had cancelled Bayonetta 2. Because the first one ONLY sold 1.3 million units. It didn't sell in the millions, so it bombed.

EDIT: SEGA just released the results from their last financial year and most of it went peachy. The Sonic and Alien IP made 1.3 million each. While Football Manager 2013 posted 940,000 in sales. Sega's Olympic game shifted 680,000 copies.

They also said that they'll " focus on fewer, better major releases". Which is what most are doing these days.