I remember being hyped for Dead Island 2 after watching the announcement trailer in 2014, but after that, the developers just went pure silent. So what really happened with Dead Island 2? Let’s start with the development process first because that was the biggest problem with Dead Island 2’s multiple delays
Multiple Development Team Changes
Dead Island 2 was supposed to release in 2015 originally, but sadly there were many development issues around it. Yager was the developer of Dead Island 2 at first, but in 2015 the development of Dead Island 2 was moved to another developer, which the publishers did not announce. The developers changed because “Yager and Deep Silver’s respective visions of the project fell out of alignment”(Recently, the footage of Dead Island 2’s Prototype by Yager was leaked as well). And after that, the unnamed developers were dropped from Dead Island 2 as well. In 2016 it was announced that Sumo Digital was working on this game now. After THQ Nordic acquired the rights to Dead Island 2, they moved the development process to Dambuster Studios. The entire development process was a mess, but now Dambuster Studios have started from the beginning to ensure that Dead Island 2 is not outdated at all. I mean, at least it is still in development. The Developers are currently hiring for the QA team, which is a good sign since most developers hire a QA team when the launch is near. The Job listing states.”Deep Silver Dambuster Studios are hard at work making the next instalment in the Dead Island franchise: the most eye-popping, gloriously gory, a zombie-slaying adventure for players all around the world.” I really hope that THQ Nordic and Dambuster does justice to Dead Island 2. The development cycle of Dead Island 2 has almost been as big as the development cycle of Cyberpunk 2077. One thing we know is that Dead Island 2 is definitely coming out one day because recently leaked documents from 2019 by Epic Games revealed that Dead Island 2 is supposed to be an Epic Games Store Exclusive so I doubt if THQ Nordic and Embracer Group would alter the deal by any means.
However, we do know that it’s coming because the community managers at Deep Silver have hinted that Dead Island 2 is still in the works many times which is great news. I hope that they showcase something about Dead Island 2 at this year’s E3. Last year it was revealed that Embracer Group had around 113 Projects in development, and I am definitely sure Dead Island 2 is one of them.
We do not know if Dead Island 2 will be a mess or a great game because the Studio behind it has released their previous game, Homefront, to mediocre reception from both players and critics. I really hope that this is not the case with Dead Island 2, though, because it has been in development for way longer at their Studio, and they probably have a very big budget considering the investments THQ Nordic usually makes in their Studios. Many people might have lost interest over time in Dead Island 2, but I am still definitely looking forward to it.
When is Dead Island 2 going to release?
Now, this is the toughest question. There is no definitive answer to this yet because no one knows how Covid-19 has impacted the development of Dead Island 2. I would suggest everyone to keep an eye out for Dead Island 2 on E3 this year, though, because it has been in development (with the new studio) for around 3 years, so I would definitely expect an update. I really want to see some sort of gameplay footage this time.
Deep Silver recently joked around and said, “Thanks for the Dead Island 2 shoutout. (it is coming out. We just can’t tell you when yet)” in response to the Dying Light 2’s Developer Update Video, which mentioned Dead Island 2 jokingly. They just keep teasing the fans around. I really hope that they release some information soon. I would expect Dead Island 2 to release by 2022-2023 if everything goes well because usually, the development time for most Embracer Group games is 2-4 years. We still need new information though the fans have been starving for new information about Dead Island 2 for years. Most of them have given up hope at this point.
When will we get more information about Dead Island 2?
This is another question that we do not have a definitive answer to. Since they were hiring QA testers for Dead Island 2 recently, I would say that we are pretty close to getting a gameplay trailer. We will just have to wait a bit more, even though we have already waited for around 7 Years with no official trailers.
Is there still interest in Dead Island 2?
There is still a lot of interest in Dead Island 2. If you are reading this article, you must be interested, but I am not just going to base it on this. Many YouTubers still get thousands of views by posting Videos about Dead Island 2, so there is still definitely interest. However, many Dead Island fans seem to have shifted to Dying Light now. Hopefully, they are still interested in Dead Island 2 as well when they actually announce something about Dead Island 2.
Are you still interested in Dead Island 2? Please let us know in the comments below.
