The wait for Dead Island 2 has been longer than anyone could have expected, with the game originally have been announced nearly a decade ago at this point. The last couple of years have seen some positive developments under the stewardship of developer Dambuster Studio, and earlier this year, Embracer Group – parent company of publisher Deep Silver – suggested that Dead Island 2 could finally launch by April 2023.
Now, it also seems like a proper re-reveal for the game is getting closer. In a recent episode of his Sacred Symbols podcast, journalist Colin Moriarty said that based on what he’s heard from a source he “trusts”, Dead Island 2 is going to be fully re-revealed sometime this summer, and will also launch “soon after that”, before adding that it could launch in September or October.
Earlier this year, known insider Tom Henderson also claimed that Dead Island 2 could finally launch in 2022.
Of course, Summer Game Fest is lined up for this summer, specifically for June, and there’s chance that Koch Media – the Embracer-owned publishing label under which Deep Silver operates – holds its own event in that window like it did last year. If that happens, we might just end up seeing Dead Island 2 at long last.
The action RPG has certainly been through the mill where its development is concerned. Announced way back in 2014, Dead Island 2 was originally in development at Yager, though the project was taken away from the studio the following year. In 2016, it was announced that Sumo Digital had been given the reins instead. The project changed developers one more time in 2019, when it finally shifted to Deep Silver’s internal studio Dambuster, the game’s current developer.
No target platforms have been announced for Dead Island 2 yet, but job listings have suggested that it won’t be a cross-gen release, launching only for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. Read more on that through here.