EA: 'We don't want to p*ss off our fans' with Dead Space 3 But franchise needs to...

EA: 'We don't want to p*ss off our fans' with Dead Space 3

But franchise needs to become "more broadly appealing"

OK.... Read with attention this article.

After I did that I came to the conclusion that EA is about to make the SAME MISTAKE FOR THE FIFTH TIME and hoping it will come out differently.

They got a business model that worked in ONE TYPE of game, and tried to put in EVERY GAME they have, waiting for the exact same result. It's like put a cheap caramel in an ice-cream, have a huge profit from it and start to put the same caramel in hot dogs, pizzas, and every snack produced for the company. And then blame the customers for hating caramel with their meat, mustard, cheese, tomato sauce, etc.

And on top of that, with all the fuzz to say "We don't want to piss off customers, but our chicken nuggets need more caramel."

Oh my facepalm....

I think EA grossly overestimates the draw of multiplayer. One of the most common reasons I hear for avoiding MP is, "I don't want to have play against a bunch of foul-mouthed 13-year-olds!"

I'm guessing this is just another scheme to milk money out of used game buyers by "encouraging" them to purchase an Online Pass. Who knows, maybe you'll even have to play MP to get the best ending...

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

Assholes. Bloody F'ing assholes.
I love Dead Space and reading this article just angered me.

"What we've tried to do with each instalment is tell a different story about Isaac but at the same time bring in new features and ways to turn the game into a more connected experience.
... so we embraced [the co-op] idea and we tried to open up the accessibility of the IP a little bit by adding a little bit more action, but not undermining the horror. We can't not be a horror game because that's what Dead Space is."
Right, because when I hear "co-op" and "horror" in the same sentence I think of actual horror, not zombie shooters. No, wait, I may have gotten that backwards.

"It's definitely not getting away from gore or horror, but at the same time it's opening up to a larger audience by adding some elements".
1. Gore does not equal horror (I know he didn't say it did, but in recent years almost every "horror" game or film has gone that way).
2. "Making a game more mass appealing" usually means doing so at the cost of what drew in the core audience (I won't point any fingers but you probably know all too well what I mean).
3. Dead Space doesn't even need to appeal to a larger audience. It has been very successful thus far and created a very strong following. "Appealing to a larger audience" is just EA speak for "whoring out your favourite game". Across all platforms DS2 has sold about 2.53 million units to date (according to vgchartz), which translates into just under 150 million USD in sales. I find it nigh impossible to believe that there was no profit in that. EA corporate brass are just being greedy little shits as usual.
Dead Space sold even better than Dead Space 2 - 3.6 million units across all platforms (vgchartz) which translates to almost 211 million USD in sales. Without MP, without appealing to a larger audience, it sold better. And yet EA decided that going in the opposite direction of what made DS great is what will double their sales figures.

In short, I don't want a DS co-op, I don't want DS multiplayer and honestly, I'd rather not have another DS than get a watered down, MP centric co-op shooter version of it. Which I highly doubt will draw in the Call of Duty crowd they so desperately want because COD does an outstanding job at being COD.

It's EA, you can't expect them to be innovative. Saying "EA" and "innovation" in the same sentence is like saying "McDonald's" and "food" or "Starbucks" and "good coffee" in the same sentence.

I believe this plan would work WAAAAYYYYY better if they didn't close the servers that voided the online passes bought as an extra for 14 of EA's games. No to mention Battlefield rent-a-server....

funny how they try to appeal to a larger audience yet lose what little audience they already had. im a HUGE fan of Dead Space but i feel this will be a Mass Effect rip off. you only have to look at how Isacc moves and see he moves like Shepard. also points for generic space marine as a new character...creative writing at its best. also why does Isacc have a machine gun in the demo all the time? cause nothing says survival horror like machine guns and teammates. Dead Space never had to appeal to the masses. if you didnt buy the first 2 then why buy the 3rd. sadly i hope this game flops cause if it doesn't say good but to original games and HELLO Call of Duty Rip-Off 277: Space Marine Shoot Gun Bang Bang Badguy Dead.

This is exactly what pissed me off so badly about their efforts to make ME3 accessible to newcomers. Who are all these people who overlook a series for the first two entries and then all of a sudden see the third and want to buy it? And why on earth do they have the right to be anything but completely lost? It's the equivalent of reading Return of the King without prior exposure to Fellowship and Two Towers; no rational human being can possibly expect to understand or care about what's going on.

If EA expects to keep making money on their major franchises, they need to stop ignoring the people who have already bought in. Want to draw a new crowd? Make a new game. Don't continue pushing out entries in a series people already enjoy and dumbing them down for the nonexistent newcomer market. People have been (rightly) conditioned to not buy sequels to stories that didn't draw their interest in the first place, so the only possible result of this business model is losing far more veteran fans than can be replaced by new fans.

Or, you know, EA could just keep doing what they do best and watch their stock fall even further. Honestly I'm past caring.

It simply serves to fuel the dark hatred in my black heart.

"grinding of teeth" I never played the Dead Space series, but it seems they are doing the exact same thing as they did with ME3, sucking the soul out of the franchise and what made it unique in the first place.

*facepalm* I can't believe it. Not again. Well they say they don't want to p**s off fans but they are certainly heading the right way. Keep it up EA. I hope they truly go bust which is almost a sure thing.

Anddddd now I can erase Dead Space from my 'Games I Should Play Someday' list. Thanks EA.

Complete with being tied to a cinderblock and kicked over a cliff into a cesspool of suck. Dead Space 3 just got checked off my "must buy" list.

The reason WHY Dead Space 1 & 2 was so well done was the fact that Isaac was alone (more or less).

HE didn't have the "luxury" of having a co-op buddy run in and save his ass if he got swarmed by necromorphs.
WE didn't have the "luxury" of knowing that around any corner death could come in a million different flavors (thereby making the entire game(s) a white knuckle, hair-raising experience) but don't have to sweat it now and go in guns blazing because our buddy's got our back.
And back then, THEY didn't have to explain themselves and say "oh no, really, it's not as bad as you think."

But these are very strange and sadly very different times. This was before DA2. This was before ME3. Sure, they're not a representative from the same developer. But they are a representative of the same publisher. The same publisher who, I think ultimately ruined both of those games by trying to make it "more appealing to a broader audience."

Why do they never listen?
When will they ever learn?
The answer to both is probably not any time soon.

And they honestly wonder why they were voted worst company of the year......

Electronic Arts: Proof positive that boundless arrogance, unchecked greed, and epic stupidity can co-exist.

There. Before getting into the ME series, I had played DS's demo and decided I'd definitely buy it. And then I got DA2 and started wondering if I should invest any more money into EA. Next, came ME3 and thought, OK, I think I'm done with EA unless they fix the endings. Now they pull up this trick with DS 3. Well, let's see what the famous EC for ME3 will do - absolutely no good, I'm afraid - and then I can decide where to take my business, which right now is very much set anywhere carrying no BW or EA logo on it.

Not pissing off your fans.
You're doing it wrong, EA.

Oh thank god the they have done this . I was trying hard to think of excuse that would still allow me to buy dead space 3 but now i wont have to . Thanks EA you make my self imposed ban on your games so easy

This is the flawed thinking of these guys within the industry. Capcom are doing it with Resident Evil, EA are doing it with Dead Space and THQ did it with Red Faction.

There is no way they will maximise sales by turning excellent niche games into mediocre mainstream games. The thing is there are already excellent experiences wherever you look, so if you want to turn your survival game into a straight up TPS shooter experience then you are competing with the top TPS shooters now and in that category their game will never match things like established competitive multiplayer, smooth shooting controls and balance because they don't know anything about them.

I'm not knocking on shooters but there are very few top dogs for a reason because they offer the best of those experiences within that category and people want that, they won't buy into something lower down the chain that wants to be like it but does it less well.

You know. I wrote a blog on this on the site. It directly addresses this "Broader Appeal" BS for anyone interested in reading it.