EA and Visceral Games have both been quick to reassure fans of the franchise that Dead Space 3, whilst hoping to appeal to a broader audience, will retain the series hallmark of horror. Yet elements such as the new cover system, universal ammo and of course the addition of co-op very much bring this into question. It has now been revealed that research suggesting that the previous games are too terrifying for some people to play alone is behind this controversial co-op addition.
Talking to MCV, EA‘s marketing boss Laura Miele revealed this initiative and the conclusions that were drawn from it:
“We were doing research coming out of Dead Space 1 and 2 and we’re really proud of those products. We received feedback to understand how we can take the game out to even more consumers.”
“We were hearing feedback that they love the thriller game, but it was pretty scary, and the obvious next step was that they wanted to play with someone. So we introduced co-op into the game.”
“Personally, I would rather go to scary movie with my husband rather than sit at home with the lights out watching one on my own. We’re looking for that to reach out to consumers that perhaps were not open to Dead Space 1 and 2.”
There is an unfortunate undercurrent of disappointment running through each of my news post concerning Dead Space 3. If it were just the addition of optional co-op then I would almost certainly be behind it, but from what we’ve seen of the game it looks to have lost much of the atmosphere that defined the first two in the series. Perhaps someone should remind EA that research was almost certainly behind Dead Space 2‘s multiplayer, and we all remember how that turned out.