It Looks Like Dead Island 2 Will Be A Next-Gen Exclusive
Oh look, another zombie game crawling out of the grave and back into our lives. Resident Evil, Left 4 Dead, House of the Dead, The Last of Us, World War Z - do we need to go on? While zombie games are a dime a dozen, the long-awaited Dead Island 2 is determined to offer something new. Back in 2011, Techland's Dead Island became a cross-gen survival horror that made the most of all markets. Jump to 2021, and with a new studio at the helm, Dead Island 2 could be shaking off the shackles of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
With the souped-up PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S being fresh on the market, most games released recently have bridged the gap and been available on both systems. When it comes to Cyberpunk 2077 and Grand Theft Auto V, we've been promised a next-gen overhaul that will give them more than a graphical upgrade. If the latest leaks are to be believed, Dead Island 2 could be one of the first big titles to branch out as a next-gen exclusive.
Why would Dead Island 2 be a next-gen exclusive?
The road to Dead Island 2 has been a long one. Development started in the immediate aftermath of the first game, with the project first kicking off in 2012 ahead of being announced at E3 2014. Since then, Dead Island 2 has been passed from pillar to post and changed hands through several different developers. Although publisher Deep Silver has promised it's still on the way, we've got a little tired of looking for updates - until now.
Posting on Twitter, MauroNL spotted some Dead Island 2 scoop and noticed developer Dambuster Studios is hiring for a Senior Producer. This shouldn't be anything too major to note, however, the fact it specifically mentions next-gen for console and PC and an "established AAA title" is enough to grab our attention. At the time of writing, Dambuster doesn't have any other games in the works, so we're making a well-informed leap that Dead Island 2 is the project in question.
Dambuster is the third developer to be attached to Dead Island 2. Following the departure of Yager Development, LittleBigPlanet 3 and Sackboy: A Big Adventure's Sumo Digital took over development in 2016. This relationship came to an end in 2019 when Dambuster finally took the reins. We assume things have been ticking along nicely since then.
Will Dead Island 2 be a next-gen exclusive?
Throwing fuel on the next-gen fire, we should probably remember Dead Island 2 effectively started from scratch less than two years ago. Looking at the usual lifespan of a game's development, it would be at least another year away from release, which also points toward next-gen exclusivity. As the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S hit their stride, gamers will see fewer and fewer games be available on PS4 and Xbox One. Although we'll still have backward compatibility, the big studios won't bother releasing games on current-gen consoles. By then, they'll be last-gen.
The implication is that Dambuster will abandon plans for PS4 and Xbox One in favour of a wholly next-gen release. It's all speculation for now, and until we get one of those rare Dead Island 2 updates, it's worth treading with caution. Unfortunately, the idea of a next-gen Dead Island 2 isn't exactly the news we were hoping for in terms of the development coming on in leaps and bounds. The fact Dambuster is hiring for such a big position suggests we could be in for an even longer wait.
Looking at the plus side of a next-gen Dead Island 2, it would mean resources can concentrate on just one vision. Normally, developers are split into two teams to work on two versions of the game. Either way, Dambuster has promised to raise the "visual bar on high-end platforms using the latest rendering technologies". Even if the zombie genre is packed to bursting with games that have already released and are also on the cards, Dead Island 2 is one game we're still hungry to chow down on.
Stay up to date with all the latest esports and gaming news by checking out our social channels here: Twitter | Facebook | Discord
Images via Dambuster Studios
