Dead Island 2 Has Been Delayed Again
Dead Island 2 has been delayed to April 2023, marking another setback for the highly anticipated game.
This article is more than 2 years old
Apparently stuck in a prolonged development cycle, Dead Island 2 has been delayed — yet again. This is actually the third time the game was delayed following its announcement in 2014, for which it dropped an absolutely gory trailer. Game publisher Deep Silver and its developer Dambuster Studios have acknowledged the black humor of this final setback, but the gaming community, on the other hand, is wary of gaming titles that took eight years to develop, as those have proven to be nothing more than empty promises.
According to IGN, Deep Silver has delayed Dead Island 2 to April 28 next year, pushing the release date some 12 weeks from the previously established release date. This isn’t a drastic delay, especially when we consider that the game was originally announced in 2014 for a 2015 release and has been delayed ever since. No specific reason was given for the game’s delay, so it would appear that Deep Silver and Dambuster Studios just need more time, and considering that the game is in its final stages of development, we assume that they’re taking extra time for final polishing.
The companies involved in Dead Island 2‘s development have also stated that the irony of delaying Dead Island 2 isn’t lost on them and have expressed their disappointment about the issue. They also stated that they’re taking the extra time to make sure that they launch the game they’re proud off — didn’t CD Projekt RED say similar things before they had to issue public apologies? Regardless, the studios have also expressed their gratitude towards the franchise’s loyal fans who have supported the original game and are waiting for its sequel.
In addition, Dambuster promised to release an exciting new gameplay trailer for the game at a Dead Island 2 live-stream showcase scheduled for December 6 this year. It would be a good opportunity to see just how far the development has progressed, unfortunately, looking at a gameplay intro and a trailer isn’t a good metric, as the footage can be misleading and present only the adequately optimized portions of the game. We’re not saying that this is the case with Dead Island 2; we’re only saying that gameplay trailers portray how a game should look — not the final result.
As for the game itself, the development of Dead Island 2 has been a rocky one, and that’s an understatement. It has taken Deep Silver a decade and three developers to get the game to its current condition. The original game’s developer had abandoned the series and created the Dying Light franchise, after which Deep Silver hired Yager to develop the sequel.
Yager, and its successor Sumo Digital, were both ditched over creative differences, and the game’s development was finally switched to Deep Silver’s internal studio, Dambuster Studios, in 2019.
It’s unknown at which stages the previous studios had left the game, but considering that Dambuster had been working on the title in 2019, we have to assume that they had started from scratch. Dead Island 2 is currently headed for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
