EA tipped to revive fan-favorite franchise: Here's what we expect

By Eric Abent/June 21, 2021 2:26 pm EST

E3 2021 might be over, but that doesn't mean we're done with the big summer reveals. Electronic Arts skipped E3 this year, deciding to host its next EA Play Live event toward the end of July. Today, we're hearing an interesting new rumor about one of the reveals lined up for EA Play Live, as EA is reportedly reviving an established franchise during the show.

To be a little more specific about it, the rumor claims that EA Motive is working on this revival, though we obviously don't know what that franchise is yet. However, we do have some idea, thanks to teases from GamesBeat's Jeff Grubb and Mike Minotti. This game has come up multiple times on the GamesBeat Decides Podcast, first back in March when Grubb and Minotti confirmed that EA Motive is working on reviving an established IP.

In a new episode of GamesBeat Decides published last week, Grubb and Minotti confirmed that the secret game will be revealed during EA Play Live on July 22nd, with Grubb saying, "we will see it... if we're not dead first" (you can catch the exchange at the 1 hour and 48-minute mark in the video embedded above). That could be an innocent comment, but it could also be teasing the reveal of a new Dead Space game. Eurogamer suggested that it has at least heard about EA's plans to revive an established IP during the show but doesn't seem to confirm that the IP in question is Dead Space.

If all of this pans out and EA does indeed reveal a new Dead Space game at EA Play Live, it'll be a big announcement indeed. Dead Space is a franchise that has been sitting dormant since 2013, which is when Dead Space 3 launched. The Dead Space franchise still has a lot of fans who would like to see a new game, so if EA is looking to revive a franchise, Dead Space is probably one of the best candidates.

EA with all of your guesses https://t.co/BOBupAM9cq pic.twitter.com/D8VarlfyrN

— Grubb (@JeffGrubb) June 20, 2021

With that said, it's important to keep in mind that the idea it could be Dead Space is based on comments that feel very off-the-cuff. Grubb has even poked at those who think it's Dead Space on Twitter, so even though a lot of us probably want the announcement to be Dead Space, it could be any of the long-dormant EA franchises.

Unfortunately, we've still got several weeks to wait before finding out what this mystery revival is. EA Play Live is slated to take place on Thursday, July 22nd and, of course, we'll be covering all of the big announcements from the show right here at SlashGear.