Original version of Dead Island 2 could have killed the franchise

In mid -2014, the first trailer of Dead Island 2 was presented to the public, which generated great enthusiasm at the time. However, the game had a troubled development and only came out in 2023.

After the trailer, about 3 to 4 weeks later, Yager Development, the studio responsible at the time, presented a milestone that was considered terrible and of poor quality for IP.

Players internal tests revealed that the game was not fun and did not capture the essence of the first Dead Island, receiving severe criticism. Even after months and clear feedback, Yager failed to improve the game in the next framework of development, maintaining the same problems.

Trailer de Dead Island 2

“It had nothing to do with what made the original Dead Island […] Really fun. So we played a Playtest and received a horrible feedback. Then we sat with the development team and asked, ‘Okay, what will be the next step?’ And they said, ‘You can leave with us’. ”

In the end, Deep Silver decided to remove the Yager from the project, because launching the game in that state could have generated immediate profit, but would probably kill the franchise.

After leaving the Yager, the project went through several hands until it reached Dambuster Studios, which took over in 2019.

Well, the rest is history, as Dead Island 2 from Dambuster Studios was successful and won the players’ confidence, being mentioned as one of the best zombie games of recent years.

Fonte: Gamesindustry