14 DAY TRIAL // The Chief Executive Officer of publisher Electronic Arts has claimed that Dead Space 3, the third game in the third-person action title with horror elements, could go on to sell more than 5 million units, suggesting that the game might already be in the early stages of development at the moment.
Speaking about the numbers posted by Dead Space 2, the biggest multiplatform launch of early 2011, John Riccitiello has said, “To be honest with you, sell-in numbers can be a little misleading because they can overstate or understate the case. I think the best measure is what the sell-through has been and Dead Space 2 compared to Dead Space 1 in a like number of weeks, has been about double, a little more than 100 percent growth.
He added, “It's an example of how we can take a key intellectual property, put it in the marketplace, and then build on it. Games with 2s, 3s, and 4s behind them almost always sell better than the original launch edition.”
The CEO then went on to mention other franchises that Electronic Arts sees as having significant growth potential, mentioning Madden NFL, FIFA, Need for Speed, Medal of Honor, Battlefield, Mass Effect, Dragon Age and Star Wars: The Old Republic.
It's worth noting that all the above-mentioned titles have been confirmed as getting releases this year, with the exception of Medal of Honor, a title that is rumored but not confirmed for a fall launch date.
Electronic Arts has strongly managed to post better than expected financial results for the final calendar quarter of 2010 and the CEO believes that the company has managed to find a new course and emerge from the crisis of 2009 better than before.
Dead Space 3 could arrive as soon as late 2012 if developer Visceral is already working on it.
Until then fans of the franchise can run again through the game and those still on the fence can read the Softpedia review for Dead Space 2.