In news that pains us to report, Electronic Arts has closed the doors on Visceral Studios. Visceral, most well known for the Dead Space franchise, was currently working on a game in the Star Wars universe. Patrick Soderlund, Executive VP at EA, had the following to say:
Our Visceral studio has been developing an action-adventure title set in the Star Wars universe. In its current form, it was shaping up to be a story-based, linear adventure game. Throughout the development process, we have been testing the game concept with players, listening to the feedback about what and how they want to play, and closely tracking fundamental shifts in the marketplace. It has become clear that to deliver an experience that players will want to come back to and enjoy for a long time to come, we needed to pivot the design. We will maintain the stunning visuals, authenticity in the Star Wars universe, and focus on bringing a Star Wars story to life. Importantly, we are shifting the game to be a broader experience that allows for more variety and player agency, leaning into the capabilities of our Frostbite engine and reimagining central elements of the game to give players a Star Wars adventure of greater depth and breadth to explore.
Presumably, it’s likely that the game will be modified to represent the “Games as a Service” mantra that EA has put in front of its development teams. As for Amy Hennig, who’s famous departure from Naughty Dog led to her being part of the team at Visceral, we’ll have to see where she ends up.
You can find the full blog post from Patrick here : Patrick Soderland Discusses Visceral Closure
Our Take
This was painful news for the crew at SG to hear. All of us adore Dead Space and have been waiting patiently for the next entry in the series to appear in the current generation. Sadly, with EA taking on the Star Wars IP, it seems that their focus is nearly entirely on that universe. In our opinion, that is both a shame and a mistake. Hopefully Dead Space returns at some point in the future. In the meantime, we wish all of the staff at Visceral the very best and hope they have a smooth transition to new roles.
It would be cool if the Dead Space series was given to another developer or something. Then maybe it could be brought back to the horror element.
Agreed. I’m hoping that EA sells the IP but sadly they don’t have a tendency to do so. Best we can hope is that they reboot it properly down the line IMO.