Dead Space creator says the devs put posters in EA toilets to fight for funding and get exec attention: "Whenever they went to the bathroom, they were seeing Dead Space"

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"That's about as indie as you can get inside a giant company, having to fight for your dollars"

An image from Dead Space

Dead Space creator Glen Schofield says his team had to play a little dirty with its internal marketing to get EA's support.

Talking to The Game Business, Schofield touched on the delicate topic of AAA game development and how, despite having EA as a publisher, Dead Space developers had to fight for attention like they were a scrappy indie studio.

"You end up marketing inside your own company. I made a scary freaking calendar, with just the concept art that we had," Schofield said. "I must have spent $4,000. We gave it to the executives… holy crap did I get in trouble for that! But at the same time… now they're starting to hear Dead Space."

Schofield added that the developers – who, following Dead Space's critical success, re-branded under the new moniker Visceral Games – had to go as far as internally marketing their own game in EA's bathrooms, vying for attention from the higher ups in their most private moments.

Schofield said EA's assessment led to Mirror's Edge getting "more marketing money than Dead Space," whose budget he pegs at "$12 – 14 million.

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Jordan Gerblick
Jordan Gerblick
Staff Writer

After earning an English degree from ASU, I worked as a corporate copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. I got my big break here in 2019 with a freelance news gig, and I was hired on as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer in 2021. That means I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my home office, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.

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