Could Dead Space return now EA has new owners? That’s what Glen Schofield, the creator of the series, is hoping to make a reality. EA apparently isn’t interested in a new sequel, but the veteran game director is optimistic the sci-fi survival horror series isn’t permanently lost in space.
After he delivered the opening keynote address at this week’s Gamescom Asia x Thailand Game Show in Bangkok, IGN caught up with Schofield and asked him if he thought there was any future for the Dead Space series.
Schofield, who helped create the original Dead Space while working as the executive producer at EA Redwood Shores in 2008, didn’t play a part in the creation of Dead Space 2 in 2011 or Dead Space 3 in 2013, but he did go on to create a spiritual successor in the form of 2022’s The Callisto Protocol while working as the founder and CEO of Striking Distance Studios. It’s clear that he hasn’t completely given up hope that Dead Space will rise like a necromorph again, despite the fact it would appear that publisher Electronic Arts has.
“I went to [EA] recently and they’re like no, we’re not interested anymore,” said Schofield. “I said, I can get back the leadership team. I need the models from EA Motive [who built the Dead Space remake in 2023] and I can save you 30 to 40 million dollars on the idea that I have. And, they’re like, ‘no.'”
Schofield left Striking Distance Studios in late 2023, less than a year after the release of The Callisto Protocol, and has since served as the director at Pinstripe Games, a studio which is yet to publicly announce any games it may have in development. But it would seem he’d be ready to make a new Dead Space game if he ever got the call.
“I have quite a few ideas that I’m ready to go with and one of them is Dead Space 4,” said Schofield. “The fact that EA just got bought, I think there’s an opportunity. I’m already making calls.”
Late last month, EA was acquired by an investor group composed of PIF, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners in a transaction worth approximately $55 billion. Schofield wonders if in order to recoup some of that cost, the investors could potentially look to offload some of the publisher’s more dormant intellectual property.
“We’ll see,” said Schofield. “I don’t know where EA’s head is right now, I don’t think they made money on [the Dead Space remake]. Dead Space needs to be adapted to different mediums — movies, TV series, it would be great.
“But I am more optimistic [since the sale of EA], because somebody new could buy [the Dead Space IP].”
If indeed EA was looking to offload some of its IP, it would be fair to assume that Dead Space could be on the auction block. Despite the fact that EA Motive’s remake was well received by critics, it apparently fell well short of EA’s internal sales targets and a possible Dead Space 2 remake reportedly wasn’t even considered.
IGN’s Dead Space remake review returned a 9/10. We said: “Dead Space is a superb remake and undoubtedly the definitive way to experience one of the best survival horror shooters that Capcom never made.”
For now, fans will have to make do with Dead Space series star Isaac Clarke popping up in EA’s new free-to-play Skate.
Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images.
Tristan Ogilvie is a senior video editor at IGN’s Australian office. He reviewed both the Dead Space remake and The Callisto Protocol for IGN, and would slice off his own arm with a plasma cutter in order to play a Dead Space 4.