I though a triple A franchise like Dead Space needed only 1.5 million to survive.

I'm tired of this AAA bullshit

We already know that this

"Yet, even given that, they feel that Dead Space 3 needs to be more “broadly appealing” without alienating current fans of the series."

Is a very, very rare case.

With a high cost this gen and a niche genre, its a pity were gonna see less and less horror games like this.

Bullshit.

Well Dead Space 1 & 2 were more AA, usally a AAA multiplatform game (COD, GTA, Assasin's Creed that kind of game) ideally is arround 4+ million minimum these days with their $40-40m production budgets $50-100+ million advertising campaigns. And these days publishers (the big ones like EA, Activision and Ubisoftat least) seem to want everything to be a AAA franchise and seccond rate games even if they are profitable just don't cut it anymore, they would rather have 3-4 5+ million unit franchises than 5-8 1-2m unit franchises. That is just how the market is right now, the total console software market is shrinking (software sales were down arround 8% in 2011 compaired to 2010) and yet games like CoD sell more every year, so the big publishers poor ever more money into fewer games and try and make them as widely accessable as possible. 

But also as the next gen comes up publishers will be looking to launch new franchises and only the biggest franchises will be carried forward into next gen.

Rising dev costs...

Nevermind, I'm just not going to say it.

Man, I sure hope they don't drop the Dead Space franchise, as it's been one of my favorite this generation. Even if they don't drop it, I don't want them sacrificing the integrity of what makes Dead Space, well...Dead Space. We need horror, first and foremost. If they get rid of the horror and make it even more action oriented, then we might as well not even have Dead Space at all. The reason why I loved the games so much is because they have an interesting story to tell, and do a good job doing it along the way.

Most games this console generations have felt like games. Dead Space, on the other hand, feels more like an experience. It's just so immersive because of the well-designed levels, pacing, and audio design. There is just no other game like it that I've played. I'll be very sad if they drop Dead Space. Mirror's Edge was bad enough, but I don't wanna see EA pull the plug on one of my favorite games this gen.

It will never reach that..it doesn't have mainstream appeal