Dead Space 4 not in development, series future uncertain

Dead Space 4 isn't in the works, but that doesn't mean the series is dismembered for good. EA Games Label Executive Vice President Patrick Söderlund spoke to Eurogamer about the future of Visceral's flagship series last week.

Rumors circulated in March that work on Dead Space 4 was canned after poorer-than-expected sales for Dead Space 3. EA quickly dismissed the rumors as "patently false." Whether the game was ever in development, it certainly isn't now.

EA may let the series cool for a while as the publisher transitions to next-gen development.

"Is that team working on a Dead Space game today? No they're not," Söderlund said. "They're working on something else very exciting. You have to think of it from that perspective. Is it better to put them on the fourth version of a game they've done three previous versions of before? Or is it better to put them on something new that they want to build, that they have passion for?"

At least one of Visceral's teams is starting on a Star Wars project, as part of EA's exclusive licensing deal with Disney. The studio's Montreal branch, which developed Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel, was shut down in February.

"Will there be another Dead Space game? Who knows? Have we killed it? No, of course not," Söderlund said. "But right now that dev team is focused on something else that you and other gamers will be very happy with."

Connor Sheridan

I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and now I'm a staff writer here at GamesRadar.