A former communications director for Deep Silver, the publisher of Dead Island 2, has shed light on the game's "eight-year delay," which was largely due to "horrifying feedback" received from early playtests.
During a Develop:Brighton talk, as reported by GamesIndustry.biz, Martin Wein — currently with GameFlex Consultants — openly discussed the sequel's difficult development. He explained that during a major milestone review with the original developer, Yager, it became clear that the game, in its state at the time, was simply "terrible."
Dead Island 2 was first unveiled at E3 2014 but soon fell silent after Yager and Deep Silver parted ways due to "mutual differences." Development then shifted to Sumo Digital before moving once more in 2019 to its final home, Dambuster Studios. A new trailer and gameplay footage debuted on December 6, 2022, during a Dead Island 2 showcase, which also announced another 12-week delay, pushing the launch to April 2023. This was the first substantial look at the game since its re-reveal in August 2022 after years of development struggles.
"I was working closely with the creative team on that trailer, and we were incredibly proud of it," Wein recalled. "However, just a few weeks later, we had a major milestone meeting with the development studio in charge at the time. Honestly, the game was in a bad state."
"It completely missed what made the original Dead Island so enjoyable. We commissioned a playtest and received devastating feedback. We sat down with the development team and asked, 'What's the plan?' They responded, 'Leave it with us.'"
But by the next review, Wein noted that little had improved. Playtesters reported the sequel was "not fun, not engaging, and didn't feel like the Dead Island I remembered."
"Ultimately, we had to take the project away from that external developer and find a new studio. This decision set the game on a long journey... It was originally slated for a 2015 release, but when did it actually come out? 2023?"
"Sometimes you have to make tough calls," Wein added. "We could have released a poor-quality game at that point. It might have made some money, but it would have destroyed the franchise."
"I wasn't directly involved in the discussions between the production team and the development partner, but since the developer was focused on their own vision rather than addressing player feedback, the decision was made to part ways."
When Dead Island 2 finally launched in 2023, IGN's review scored it a 7/10, stating: "Dead Island 2 is a wildly fun gore-fest and a solid zombie-slaying adventure, though it lacks creativity outside of its excellent humor."
