Dead Island2was first announced all the way back at Sony’s E3 2014 presentation, where its trailer was met with a positive response from fans excited to see more open world zombie-killing action. We were then treated to aDead Island 2gameplay demonot long after, but then momentum for the game fell off a cliff, and we haven’t seen anything substantial about it for years. Fans could be forgiven for assumingDead Island 2was canceled, but apparently that’s not the case, and the game is still coming out for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
This was revealed by THQ Nordic CEO Lars Wingefors (THQ partly owns Deep Silver, the publisher ofDead Island 2), when he was talking about the company’s upcoming games. Unfortunately, all Wingefors confirmed was thatDead Island 2is still in development and that fans should stay tuned for more information.
Wingefors gave no indication as to how far along in developmentDead Island 2is at this point. Wingefors also didn’t address therumors that Sumo Digital was removedfrom working on the open world zombie game, so we don’t know for sure who is even working on the project.
Dead Island 2’s troubled development is reminiscent of the first game’s development cycle. As some may recall, the firstDead Islandwas originally announced in 2007, with a planned 2008 release date. Virtually nothing was shown of the game since its announcement, but then it finally launched in 2011 to strong sales and mixed reviews.
Some fans were optimistic thatDead Island 2would be able to avoid the same development pitfalls as its predecessor, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. However, they can rest assured knowing thatDead Island 2is not canceled, even if we don’t know definitively if Sumo Digital or another studio is working on the project, or how far along the project is in development.
If fans are lucky, maybe they’ll get a more substantial update onDead Island 2at E3 2019 in June, but we wouldn’t hold our breath.
Dead Island 2is in development for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
