EA president Frank Gibeau says that Dead Space needs a number of players roughly equivalent to the entire population of Norway to justify its continued existence. “In general, we’re thinking about how we make this a more broadly appealing franchise, because ultimately you need to get to audience sizes of around five million to really continue to invest in an IP like Dead Space,” he told CVG in a recent interview.

“Anything less than that and it becomes quite difficult financially given how expensive it is to make games and market them,” he continued. While firm sales numbers are not readily available, EA did say back in February that Dead Space 2 was selling about twice as well as the franchise’s first entry had. Yet, even given that, they feel that Dead Space 3 needs to be more “broadly appealing” without alienating current fans of the series.

Dead Space 3 is set for a 2013 release, and sounds to be leaning toward more toward the action genre than its predecessors. Only time will tell if, and to what extent, that shift compromises the horror elements that current fans of the series enjoy

Hahaha, oh wow.

http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/06/15/dead-space-needs-around-five-million-fans-to-survive-according-to-ea/

Well, I'm one fan! Only 4,999,999 left to go :p

Dead Space 3 will probably be the last one then.

Bullshit Dead has not even 2 million fans and its doing just fine.But it is sad to see how the Horror genre is dying a slow death. I say Dead Space 3 will sell worse then its predecessors

Great, they're changing the game's genre pretty much, which will alienate fans of the series, and then expecting the fanbase to grow in numbers or else it's likely the end of the franchise. Greeeeeaaaat.....

EA just never cease to amaze me.

Well, Goodbye Dead Space!  

I'm finding myself pretty annoyed by this. You simply can't change a game's genre and have instant success, so why not just green light the final game as something the existing fans would love? All this is going to do is make the franchise go out by leaving a sour taste in the fans' mouths, instead of leaving the fans squeeling with joy and screaming for more by giving them a true goodbye to the story.

gears of deadspace 3

I am actually glad we get 3. For a while it seemed like there would only be one when EA canceled mirror's edge and other series. If the formula has to ruined to get more fans I say leave it at it's greatness.