EA research said Dead Space 1&2 were too scary

The realisation that horror games Dead Space and Dead Space 2 are scary led to the decision to shift the focus away from scares in Dead Space 3, EA has told MCV.

Fans of the series took to the internet following the reveal of Dead Space 3 to bemoan its apparent shift from pure horror in favour of a more action-orientated approach.

But speaking to MCV, EA Games’ marketing boss Laura Miele says that the change of tone is a reaction to product research.

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,” she stated.

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.

The horror of Dead Space is still all there. It’s still true to its roots and no less scary, but people felt far more comfortable playing it with someone else than they did doing it on their own.

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.”

To read the full interview with Laura Miele, check out this week’s edition of MCV Magazine (issue 697) in print, online and on iPad.