At E3 EA unveiled the first footage of Dead Space 3 to the world, showcasing it’s action thrills and co-op features; however they are perfectly aware that this didn’t win over every fan under the sun, and so EA Labels president Frank Gibeau assured fans – via an interview with CVG – that their precious franchise is in safe hands.

“What we’ve tried to do with each instalment is tell a different story about Isaac but at the same time bring in new features and ways to turn the game into a more connected experience.

“… so we embraced [the co-op] idea and we tried to open up the accessibility of the IP a little bit by adding a little bit more action, but not undermining the horror. We can’t not be a horror game because that’s what Dead Space is.”

Whilst the co-op integration and more action oriented gameplay has been implemented to bring in new fans to the series, Gibeau admitted that they “definitely do not want to piss off our fans by taking it too far from horror.”

“We’re very self aware of that – we listen to the fans and we hear them. We’re going to be releasing more assets over the coming months that show you how deep the horror is. It’s definitely not getting away from gore or horror, but at the same time it’s opening up to a larger audience by adding some elements.”

He cites the growing development costs as one reason for why the game is vying to draw new fans in by broadening its appeal so they can keep the series ticking over for fans to enjoy.

“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.

“Anything less than that and it becomes quite difficult financially given how expensive it is to make games and market them.

“We feel good about that growth but we have to be very paranoid about making sure we don’t change the experience so much that we lose the fanbase.”

All in all it seems that the changes made are for the better interests of the franchise, here’s hoping it’s not been done at the detriment of quality, or at the expense of the dark disturbing horror that was at the heart of the franchise. At least we know a Wii U version isn’t planned, so that wont distract from the traditional gameplay methods.