Dead Space 2 Remake confusion ends with bad news for fans

Motive is busy with Iron Man and Battlefield

It’s been a disappointing 48 hours for fans of Dead Space: First, EA announced that Motive – the studio behind the acclaimed Dead Space Remake – would build up a team to support Battlefield alongside working on its Iron Man game, leaving very little room for anything else. Then, a report by Jeff Grubb claimed that a Dead Space 2 Remake had actually been in early development and was canceled, which EA took the trouble to deny in an official statement.

“We don't normally comment on rumors but there is no validity to this story,” the company told IGN. 

Grubb, however, doubled down on his report, writing: “I give you my permission to believe EA if you want, but whenever a company says ‘that isn't true’ but they don't specify which part of the story they are talking about, well ... yeah. Dead Space 2 was definitely being planned. It had a code name. And they aren't making it now.”

Speaking of that codename, it appears as if this entire issue has been caused by confusion around it. Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier entered the debate after Grubb’s response to EA and offered to clear things up. According to him, “Motive used the same code name to describe *whatever project* that the Dead Space team was working on next, hence the confusion on Jeff's part. It was never really a Dead Space 2 remake, and for nearly a year it's had nothing to do with Dead Space.”

Whatever it was Motive worked on – definitely not a Dead Space 2 Remake, as we now know – it doesn’t matter anymore: Schreier said the project fizzled out and its key people are now the core of the task force Motive is putting together to assist with Battlefield.

Schreier clarified that Motive explored ideas for a new Dead Space game, but nothing was ever greenlit. Instead, the series has once again been put “on ice” and will seemingly be left resting for a while. So much for that, then.

Aside from the Dead Space Remake, Motive previously worked on Star Wars: Squadrons. It has recently hit a major milestone in its development of Marvel’s Iron Man, according to the studio’s general manager Patrick Klaus.