Dead Space 3's "resource farming" glitches are not actually coding mistakes, but "deliberately designed," according to public statement from publisher Electronic Arts.
Released earlier this week, Dead Space 3 has been well-recieved by critics overall, but some have categorized the game's inclusion of downloadable content allowing players to purchase in-game currency as "greedy" and generally tacky. Since the game's release, players and media outlets have posted videos of "glitches" revealing areas where players could collect an infinite number of resources, which they could then sell for an equal amount of money, bypassing the need to purchase the DLC.
In response to a story about one of these "bugs" on Kotaku, EA released a statement explaining that these instances of endlessly-spawning resources are not glitches, and were intentionally included in the game to allow ambitious players to grind for resources if they chose:
"The resource-earning mechanic in Dead Space 3 is not a glitch. We have no plans to issue a patch to change this aspect of the game. We encourage players to explore the game and discover the areas where resources respawn for free. We've deliberately designed Dead Space 3 to allow players to harvest resources by playing through the game. For those that wish to accumulate upgrades instantly, we have enabled an optional system for them to buy the resources at a minimal cost ($1-$3)."
Given the critical response to the DLC, it isn't outside the realm of possibility that EA is simply looking to make the best of a bad situation, opting for good publicity over the potential sales. Intentional or not, it stands to reason that anyone who would the extra time to leave and enter a room over and over to farm resources wouldn't be interested in paying money for them.
