A former head of communications at Dead Island 2 writer Deep Silver has opened up in regards to the “eight-year product delay” Dead Island 2 endured after early playtests reported “horrific suggestions.”
On the finish of a Develop:Brighton speak as reported by GamesIndustry.biz, Martin Wein — now at GameFlex Consultants — talked candidly in regards to the sequel’s troubled improvement, and the way it was determined at a serious milestone assembly with then-developer, Yager, that the sport because it was then “sucked.”
Dead Island 2 was revealed at E3 2014 however quickly went quiet earlier than “mutual variations” separated Yager from Deep Silver. It was then moved to Sumo Digital earlier than being shifted once more in 2019 to its last house of Dambuster Studios. A brand new trailer and gameplay video was launched on December 6, 2022, throughout a Dead Island 2 Showcase that introduced it was delayed as soon as once more, slipping 12 weeks to April 2023. It was the primary correct have a look at the sport followers had since it was re-revealed after years of troubled improvement in August 2022.
“I used to be engaged on that with the artistic workforce, and we have been mightily happy with that [trailer],” Wein mentioned. “However then, about three to 4 weeks later, we had a serious milestone with the event studio that was in cost at the moment. And boy, that sport sucked.
“It had nothing to do with what [made] the unique Dead Island […] actually enjoyable. So we commissioned a play take a look at and obtained horrific suggestions. And we sat down with the event workforce and mentioned, ‘Okay, what is the plan of action?’ They usually mentioned, ‘Yeah, go away it with us.'”
However on the subsequent touch-point, Wein mentioned little had modified, with playtest suggestions indicating the sequel was “not enjoyable, not participating, [and] doesn’t really feel just like the Dead Island that I performed.”
“So on the finish of the day, we needed to take the sport away from that exterior developer, discover a new studio, and that put the sport on a journey of… nicely, it was alleged to launch in 2015. When did it come out? 2023?
“Generally you need to make exhausting selections,” Wein added. “As a result of we might have, at that time, put out a sh*t sport. It might need made some cash, however it will have killed the franchise.
“I can not actually communicate to the dialog between the manufacturing workforce and the event accomplice as I used to be not a part of these, however because the developer needed to pursue their imaginative and prescient quite than comply with participant suggestions, the final word determination was made to half methods.”
When it did lastly launch in 2023, IGN’s Dead Island 2’s evaluation returned a 7/10. We mentioned: “Dead Island 2 is a hilarious gore-fest and a reliable zombie-slaying journey, however lacks creativity exterior of its nice humorousness.”
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, in addition to a critic, columnist, and advisor with 15+ years expertise working with a few of the world’s greatest gaming websites and publications. She’s additionally a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually Excessive Chaos. Discover her at BlueSky.