To say Dead Island 2's development was rocky is probably an understatement. The action-RPG took nine years from reveal to launch and went through multiple studios in the process. Now, former Deep Silver head of communications Martin Wein has revealed part of what happened after the sequel was unveiled at Sony's E3 2014 press conference. Basically, the game as it existed then "sucked," he said.
GamesIndustry.biz reports that Wein opened up about Dead Island 2 at a Develop:Brighton panel when he was asked whether he could remember a time when marketing or player research assisted in game development. "I can actually give you an example where myself and the product team caused about an eight-year product delay," said Wein.
Now with GameFlex Consultants, Wein stated that he and his team "were mightily proud" of Dead Island 2's reveal trailer--seen above. The video sees a jogger going for a run on the beachfront before turning into a zombie himself. About a month after the trailer's debut, Wein said that "we had a major milestone with the development studio that was in charge at that time. And boy, that game sucked."
At that time, Spec Ops: The Line developer Yager was working on Dead Island 2 before being removed in 2015. Wein stated that the game back then "had nothing to do with what [made] the original Dead Island [...] really fun." Wein added that they received "horrific feedback" from a playtest, which the studio claimed it would address. But that didn't happen, according to Wein. This set off a chain of delays for Dead Island 2, and ultimately the game went through another developer in Sumo Digital before Dambuster Studios delivered the final product.
"Sometimes you have to make hard decisions," Wein said. "Because we could have, at that point, put out a shit game. It might have made some money, but it would have killed the franchise."
In 2019, Koch Media made a similar argument for Dead Island 2's long development being a good thing. The sequel finally arrived in 2023 and sold over 3 million copies. For more, check out GameSpot's Dead Island 2 review.
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GamesIndustry.biz reports that Wein opened up about Dead Island 2 at a Develop:Brighton panel when he was asked whether he could remember a time when marketing or player research assisted in game development. "I can actually give you an example where myself and the product team caused about an eight-year product delay," said Wein.
Now with GameFlex Consultants, Wein stated that he and his team "were mightily proud" of Dead Island 2's reveal trailer--seen above. The video sees a jogger going for a run on the beachfront before turning into a zombie himself. About a month after the trailer's debut, Wein said that "we had a major milestone with the development studio that was in charge at that time. And boy, that game sucked."
At that time, Spec Ops: The Line developer Yager was working on Dead Island 2 before being removed in 2015. Wein stated that the game back then "had nothing to do with what [made] the original Dead Island [...] really fun." Wein added that they received "horrific feedback" from a playtest, which the studio claimed it would address. But that didn't happen, according to Wein. This set off a chain of delays for Dead Island 2, and ultimately the game went through another developer in Sumo Digital before Dambuster Studios delivered the final product.
"Sometimes you have to make hard decisions," Wein said. "Because we could have, at that point, put out a shit game. It might have made some money, but it would have killed the franchise."
In 2019, Koch Media made a similar argument for Dead Island 2's long development being a good thing. The sequel finally arrived in 2023 and sold over 3 million copies. For more, check out GameSpot's Dead Island 2 review.
Source