Speaking to NME, Philippe Ducharme – senior producer at EA Motive – has shared that the team tasked with remaking Dead Space wanted to avoid doing anything that would “offend hardcore fans” of the original game.
Discussing the responsibility that comes with remaking a popular title, Ducharme said it was “something that was very important for us, that we willingly stepped into.
“We’re mostly all hardcore Dead Space fans – we love that game, we love that franchise,” he continued. “When we started our first pillar that we said we need to nail that was honour the legacy. How do we make sure that whatever we decide to make with the remake, whatever decisions we take, it can’t be something that will offend hardcore fans of Dead Space – because we’re part of them!”
That concern led to Motive forming the Community Council, in which Dead Space fans were invited to have a say in the remake’s development. Ducharme explains that the council “helps to keep us honest and have that sounding board,” and added that it helps to keep the team from falling into an echo chamber.
“It’s easy once you’re in a team and having meeting over meeting, to kind of drink your own Kool-Aid and get biased about what you’re making,” Ducharme shared. “Having that Community Council, and being able to balance with them and say ‘Hey, we’re thinking about this, you haven’t drank the Kool-Aid – is this a good idea?’ and get that raw feedback was something that was key for us to make sure we didn’t get lost along the way.”
The Dead Space remake is set to be released in January 2023, and legendary filmmaker John Carpenter recently said the series would make for a “real great movie.”
Additional reporting by Jake Tucker.
