Dead Island 2 has had its fair share of problems, not the least of which is changing developers three times and currently being little more than vaporware. It was first revealed at E3 2014 and not only has it not released, but we’ve barely seen any progress on the game at all. Despite this, Koch Media, the company that operates the Deep Silver publishing label behind Dead Island 2, still believes in the upcoming zombie game. For a while, some were under the impression the game had been cancelled, due to radio silence from the publisher and the obvious turmoil from a development standpoint. This was not the case, as noted by parent company THQ Nordic earlier this year. CEO of Koch Media Klemens Kundratitz expressed the company’s dedication to ensuring the game will be of high quality.
According to Kundratitz:
Look, Dead Island is a very important brand for us and we’ve got to get it right. It’s just a testimony of our dedication to get it right.
It’s a great story to tell everyone that it’s on its third studio, but we like to be judged on the end result and we’re really confident that when it comes out it’s going to be a kick-ass zombie game. We’ll certainly give it all our power.
That’s potentially good news for those looking forward to the open-world zombie adventure. Dead Island 2 was originally supposed to be developed by Techland, the studio behind the beloved Dying Light and its upcoming sequel, Dying Light 2. And with word that Dying Light 2 will be released sometime in June of 2020, concerns were brought up that there would be a conflict of interest since Kundratitz still remains close with Techland. This will not be an issue, though.
“It would be conflict if we were launching on top of each other,” he explained. “But that’s not going to be a problem.” This likely puts Dead Island 2’s release date after June of 2020, probably after the launch of the PS5 and next-gen consoles.
It’s clear Dead Island 2 has had a rocky development after shifting hands several times and being worked on for over six years. With Koch Media’s expressions of support for the franchise, will we finally see more of it next year?
[Source: Games Industry]
