Electronic Arts Inc put the Dead Space series on ice for the second time, despite the release of a critically acclaimed remake last year that appeared to give new life to the troubled video-game franchise.

Although news that the sci-fi horror series was shelved came out this week, EA made the decision as early as last spring, according to people familiar with the project. Hopes for a new Dead Space game at EA were derailed after sales of the remake missed the company’s expectations, said the people, who asked not to be identified because they weren’t authorised to speak publicly.

After finishing the Dead Space remake, which was released in January 2023, a small team at the Electronic Arts subsidiary Motive spent a few months conceiving ideas for a new entry in the series, said the people. But those plans were never given a greenlight and fizzled before they could get very far. Since last summer, that team has instead been exploring other ideas while the bulk of the developers who worked on Dead Space moved to different projects.

The Giant Bomb YouTube channel suggested Wednesday that Motive had been developing a remake of Dead Space 2 that was shelved. Electronic Arts, based in Redwood City, California, denied the report of that work, telling the gaming site IGN, “We don’t normally comment on rumours but there is no validity to this story.” An EA spokesperson declined to comment further to Bloomberg.

The series, introduced in 2008, was received well by fans but never turned into the blockbuster that management envisioned. Following the disappointing 2013 release of Dead Space 3, the company shelved the series for a decade before bringing it back last year with a high-end remake of the first entry that received top review scores.

Motive said this week it is working on two games - a previously announced Iron Man project and a new Battlefield, which left the fate of the sci-fi horror series in question.

 - Bloomberg