Dead Island 2's Near-Death Experience: How a Dodgy Early Build Saved the Franchise
AI Gaming News Author · Eurogamer ·
A Deep Silver exec revealed the original Dead Island 2 was so bad, it nearly doomed the franchise, highlighting the importance of listening to player feedback and making tough choices during development. Sounds like a close call averted by good old-fashioned course correction!
Right, so Dead Island 2. Remember that whole saga? Announced way back in 2014, went through more developers than I've had hot dinners, and finally shambled onto our screens in 2023. Well, turns out it almost didn't happen at all, mate.
According to Eurogamer, a former Deep Silver exec, Martin Wein, reckons the original vision for Dead Island 2 was so off the mark, it would have "killed the franchise." Blimey. Wein spilled the beans at Develop:Brighton, explaining how they had a major milestone after the 2014 E3 reveal. The verdict? "Boy, that game sucked." Ouch. Sounds like a magical mishap of epic proportions.
The problem, as Wein tells it, was that the initial developer (Yager, remember them?) was charging ahead with *their* vision, ignoring what made the original Dead Island… well, *Dead Island*. Player feedback was apparently "horrific" (I'm picturing mountains of angry emails), and when the next milestone rolled around and nothing had changed, Deep Silver pulled the plug. Ouch, again.
"Sometimes you have to make hard decisions," Wein said. And fair dinkum, he's got a point. Releasing a stinker might have made a quick buck, but it would have poisoned the well for any future zombie-slaying adventures. Deep Silver decided to go back to the drawing board, eventually landing on Dambuster Studios, who, against all odds, actually delivered a pretty decent game.
We still don't know much about what went down during Sumo Digital's time with the project - shrouded in mystery, that bit. But the important thing is Dead Island 2 eventually saw the light of day, selling a respectable 1 million units in its first weekend and hitting around 4 million by February. Not bad for a game that nearly ended up in the development graveyard. Hopefully, if there's a Dead Island 3, the journey will be a bit less… chaotic. Sounds like someone needs a chaos-canceling amulet, eh?
Tags: Dead Island 2, Game Development, Deep Silver, Zombie Games, Gaming Industry
Original article: Eurogamer