NEWS
by Mark Barley
EA: Rumor of 'Dead Space 4' cancellation "patently false"
Rumors quickly swirled yesterday that Electronic Arts had canceled Dead Space 4 amid poor sales of the franchise's third installment.
Videogamer originally reported that a source close to production on a fourth Dead Space title in the early stages at Visceral Games, was discontinued by EA due to poor sales by Dead Space 3. The source also claimed that recently closed down Visceral Montreal was working on prototypes for the fourth title.
However, a recent tweet by Gamasutra claims that a rep from EA told them that claims of Dead Space 4 being canceled were "patently false". The tweet read;
“Rumors about poor Dead Space 3 sales and an unannounced Dead Space 4 being cancelled are are “patently false,” EA tells us. Spread the word!”
The story only gets better from there as EA's Peter Moore quickly took the defensive to rebuttal Videogamer's original claim that DS4 was doomed. Speaking with GI.biz, Moore stated; “Standard, shoddy website journalism recipe, born out of a desperate need to increase click-thru rates to support advertising revenue. Fabricate a story using an ‘unnamed source,’ post it first thing in the morning, add the letters ‘EA’ to the story (oh, and link it to micro-transactions – always a fan favourite) and then stand back and enjoy the vitriol which you turn into revenue. Rinse and repeat.
“My comments were fairly and squarely aimed at Videogamer. My issue is not the rejection of community feedback (we get that in bucketloads all day long and we learn from it in real time), rather it was the fabrication of a story in order to generate controversy and ultimately readership.”
Videogamer quickly went on the defensive as well, standing by their original report that Dead Space 4 has been canceled. The site stated that they originally contacted an EA rep on Monday - March 4, 2013 - to confirm what their source had told them. However, the site claims that the EA rep they contacted told them to wait until Tuesday to report anything as the news was what to come from EA's U.S. branch. Videogamer is claiming that they gave EA several hours to comment on the rumor but eventually got the standard "EA does not comment on rumor or speculation" line. “My comments were fairly and squarely aimed at Videogamer. My issue is not the rejection of community feedback (we get that in bucketloads all day long and we learn from it in real time), rather it was the fabrication of a story in order to generate controversy and ultimately readership.”
VG decided to publish the story having been given the silent treatment by EA's reps, which prompted Peter Moore's defense. VG decided to stand by their original story in the following statement;
“VideoGamer.com would never publish information from a source whose identity could not be verified, or that we do not believe to be accurate. We carried out internal checks to verify the validity of the comments made by our source – and while we have a duty of care to protect their identity – we stand by the comments made in the original story.
“We would also like to reiterate that we ran the story in good faith, taking the necessary steps with both EA and our source to ensure that the story was as accurate, fair, and well-represented as possible.
“We find it perplexing as to why EA changed its stance on its decision not to comment on rumours and speculation, especially given the opportunities that the publisher had to clarify the situation before and after VideoGamer.com published the story. We firmly deny any accusations of fabrication on our part.”
According to Eurogamer, both Gamespot and Gamasutra received a statement from EA claiming that the Videogamer report was false and Dead Space 4 had not been canned. “We would also like to reiterate that we ran the story in good faith, taking the necessary steps with both EA and our source to ensure that the story was as accurate, fair, and well-represented as possible.
“We find it perplexing as to why EA changed its stance on its decision not to comment on rumours and speculation, especially given the opportunities that the publisher had to clarify the situation before and after VideoGamer.com published the story. We firmly deny any accusations of fabrication on our part.”
Eurogamer asks a very important question, if EA had not canceled Dead Space 4 was so quick to deny the rumor to bigger video game news publications, why did the company not originally deny the rumor to Videogamer, before VG ran its original story?
This is what happens when publisher's don't take a site seriously and are left cleaning up their own mess.