Given just how successful Dead Space 2 has turned out to be, it's no surprise that publisher Electronic Arts has already got plans in motion to make the future of the franchise even stronger. The publisher isn't just financing another entry, but trying to find a way to get Dead Space 3 to appeal to an even larger and more varied audience than the series currently draws. We don't know what that means in terms of gameplay, but it's still good news for Dead Space fans.

EA's president previously noted the potential for Dead Space to grow as a brand, and the numbers it needs to sell to get there. The developers at Visceral Games are more than happy with the fan following and success that has sprung up overnight, and would love nothing more than to keep expanding the Dead Space series with even more installments.

But EA sees major profits to be had in the franchise, so they won't be satisfied with a third title that caters only to the established fanbase.

Before the fans cry out that the franchise will be turned into a cash cow at the cost of the personality that made it successful in the first place, EA wants nothing more than to see even more games like Dead Space released.

It makes sense, since horror movies can prove to resonate with massive audiences each year (what are we on, Saw XVII by now?). And with a Dead Space movie only in discussion stages, a new game with wider appeal will have to do for the meantime.

EA Games President Frank Gibeau is looking at the most popular survival-horror series in the third-person genre, and thinks that Dead Space is capable of following the same trail. Gibeau explained the publisher's goals for the series to IGN:

"The Resident Evil series was awesome, the early versions were phenomenal. [Capcom] did a good job of growing the franchise to a very large market...I think we still have some areas to grow with Dead Space in terms of trying to reach a broader audience without losing the quality and that survival-horror mechanic. That's how we're going to think about it as we think about Dead Space 3 and what we do next with the IP.

"Overall, we want to try and grow the business in the action category... EA doesn't really have a very strong stake there; survival-horror kind of lives in that genre. 3rd-person action is something that we think we can build and ourVisceral Games team is really working hard at crafting some new IPs as well as building out ones that have succeeded."

EA has previously stated their desire to gain a foothold in the third-person action genre, since it's one of the only fields which the publisher is noticeably absent from. That desire to forge a presence is the very reason why Visceral Games is leading the charge, having multiple studios grouped together under their studio's name. We have our own ideas for Dead Space 3, but we know that the series will likely be in good hands with Visceral.

How do you take these latest comments from EA? Are you concerned that making Dead Space more palatable to the masses will remove its unique style, or are you just happy to see the future of Visceral become that much more certain?

Dead Space 2 is available now for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.

Source: IGN