Scaredy-cats were too frightened by Dead Space 1 & 2

Research led EA to introduce a second character to make scares easier to take.

Much less frightening with a friend.

Dead Space 1 and 2 were deemed too scary by EA after research conducted by the publisher revealed players liked the thriller elements, but were less keen on enduring the horrors alone.

"We were doing research coming out of Dead Space 1 and 2 and we're really proud of those products," EA Games' marketing boss Laura Miele told MCV. "We received feedback to understand how we can take the game out to even more consumers."

"We were hearing feedback that they love the thriller game, but it was pretty scary, and the obvious next step was that they wanted to play with someone. So we introduced co-op into the game.

"The horror of Dead Space is still all there. It's still true to its roots and no less scary, but people felt far more comfortable playing it with someone else than they did doing it on their own."

Miele likened the experience to watching a horror movie alone or with your partner.

"Personally, I would rather go to scary movie with my husband rather than sit at home with the lights out watching one on my own. We're looking for that to reach out to consumers that perhaps were not open to Dead Space 1 and 2."

Dead Space 3 will be released February 2013.