“After release of Dead Island 2 Ultimate Edition in October 2024, the primary focus for Dambuster Studios is now Dead Island 3,” reads the strategic report. “All developers are assigned to the project and once the Luna and Mac versions of Dead Island 2 are complete all of Dambuster’s QA team will also be assigned to Dead Island 3. Parts of the game are now in early production with feature, character, world and story design moving at pace. The current predicted release window for the project is Q1/2 2028.”

The Dead Island series has seen quite a bit of success. Back in September when it first teased the third game, Dambuster Studios had also celebrated that Dead Island 2 had gotten more than 20 million players since its release back in 2023.

The tease itself involved an image with a character that was seemingly leaving Dead Island 2‘s LA setting, hitchhiking on an intercity road. The text on the image reads “When there’s no more room in HELL-A…” The studio’s post itself also noted that “The next outbreak? Dambuster is already drenched in the work. The journey is far from over…”

While Dambuster Studios might have done excellently since it started working on the Dead Island franchise, former Deep Silver head of communications Martin Wein had spoken about how the game’s original version, being developed by Yager, would have essentially killed the franchise.

Speaking at Develop:Brighton in July, Wein discussed the delays seen by the original version of Dead Island 2 under Yager. “I can actually give you an example where myself and the product team caused about an eight-year product delay,” said Wein.

“I was working on that with the creative team, and we were mightily proud of that [trailer],” Wein said. “But then, about 3 to 4 weeks later, we had a major milestone with the development studio that was in charge at that time. And boy, that game sucked.”

“It had nothing to do with what [made] the original Dead Island […] really fun,” he explained. “So we commissioned a play test and got horrific feedback. And we sat down with the development team and said, ‘Okay, what’s the course of action?’ And they said, ‘Yeah, leave it with us’.”

Despite negative feedback from playtests, however, Wein noted that the project wasn’t seeing any changes or adjustments that takes the feedback into account, with Wein describing some of the feedback being “this is not fun, this is not engaging, this does not feel like the Dead Island that I played.”

Dead Island 2: Ultimate Edition was released back in 2024 on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S, and includes the base game along with all of the DLC that had been made for the game. For more details, check out our review of Dead Island 2.

However, it also teased “the next outbreak,” how the studio is “already drenched in the work,” and that “The journey is far from over.” Attached is artwork of Jacob, one of the playable characters, hauling a travel bag with stickers for Ireland, LA, and more. When asked where the next infection would appear, Dambuster responded, “I dunno, but that’s a pretty picture we attached to the post, huh.”

Regardless of the actual place, it’s possible that Dead Island 3, or whatever it ends up called, has more open environments to explore and slay in. While Jacob is seemingly set to return, there may be brand new characters added to the mix.

Time will tell, so stay tuned. Dead Island 2 is available for Xbox One, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. Check out our review. Its last major update added a survival mode, Neighborhood Watch, that you can learn more about here.

In a talk at Develop:Brighton (courtesy of GamesIndustry.biz), former Deep Silver head of communications Martin Wein, now working at GameFlex Consultants, said that the version of Dead Island 2 that was being developed at the time would have potentially killed the Dead Island franchise.

Discussing the developer at the time, Yager, working on Dead Island 2, Wein spoke about how the project was delayed because the development team was veering away from the original design vision that was behind Dead Island 2. “I can actually give you an example where myself and the product team caused about an eight-year product delay,” said Wein at the talk.

“I was working on that with the creative team, and we were mightily proud of that [trailer],” Wein said. “But then, about 3 to 4 weeks later, we had a major milestone with the development studio that was in charge at that time. And boy, that game sucked.”

“It had nothing to do with what [made] the original Dead Island […] really fun,” he explained. “So we commissioned a play test and got horrific feedback. And we sat down with the development team and said, ‘Okay, what’s the course of action?’ And they said, ‘Yeah, leave it with us’.”

However, two or three months later, Wein described the game as being essentially the same as when it got the negative feedback from its playtests. Citing some of the feedback, Wein described them as being “this is not fun, this is not engaging, this does not feel like the Dead Island that I played.”

“So at the end of the day, we had to take the game away from that external developer, find a new studio, and that put the game on a journey of… well, it was supposed to launch in 2015. When did it come out? 2023?”

Wein spoke about the importance of publishers having to make some hard decisions with their projects sometimes, saying that “we could have, at that point, put out a s*** game. It might have made some money, but it would have killed the franchise.”

“I think at that point Deep Silver did the right thing, and Dead Island 2 was a commercial success in the end,” he said. “Because they took that step, and they said that we need to make a game that fits for the player.”

For context, Dead Island 2 had spent a notoriously long amount of time between its original announcement and final release. In that time, the development team behind the project was changed several times, including studios like Spec Ops: The Line developer Yager and Crackdown 3 developer Sumo Digital, before ultimately being developed internally at Deep Silver through its own team, Dambuster Studios.

Dead Island 2 is available on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. For more details about the co-op zombie hack-and-slash action RPG, check out our review.

In fact, publisher Deep Silver has announced with a press release that Dead Island 2 has now surpassed 10 million players across all platforms, a milestone that it crossed earlier this week, the day that Dead Island 2: Ultimate Edition launched.

It was announced in May this year that the game had managed to sell over 3 million units since launch. Deep Silver hasn’t provided an update on sales figures, though one would imagine that the game’s available on both Game Pass and PlayStation Plus has contributed to its player numbers, but not necessarily sales.

Dead Island 2 is available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Read our review of the game through here. The game will also be adding PS5 Pro enhancements soon.

The series’ official Twitter acknowledged this and promised more information “soon.” The PS5 version targets 4K resolution and runs at 60 frames per second with no options for other modes, per our analysis. It wouldn’t be surprising if Dambuster achieved 2160p using the new PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution or added ray tracing to improve the fidelity.

Regardless, we’ll need to wait for details, so stay tuned. The PS5 Pro launches on November 7th for $699.99 worldwide. Supported titles thus far include Alan Wake 2, The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, Horizon Forbidden West, Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered, and more. Check out our feature for everything you should know before the console’s launch.

The Ultimate Edition includes the base game and two expansions – Haus and SoLA – alongside all of the Slayer character packs (which include unique cosmetics) and the new Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 weapons pack. It also launches with Patch 6, which features Neighborhood Watch, a three-player co-op mode with new characters.

Players must scavenge for supplies and fortify defenses over several days to prepare for a massive zombie horde on the final day. The patch also adds New Game Plus, allowing players to start a new playthrough and reach a new level cap. It also contains new weapons, a new zombie breed, and more challenging gameplay.

For more details on Dead Island 2, check out our review. Once in development hell, the title has sold over three million copies since launch.

Of course, previously released weapon packs like the Memories of Banoi Pack, Golden Weapons Pack, Pulp Weapons Pack, and Red’s Demise Katana. All six Slayer character packs, which include premium skins and weapons, are also included. Perhaps the most notable addition is the Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 weapons pack, though its items are unknown.

The developer hasn’t confirmed the platforms or pricing for the Ultimate Edition, but the official image indicates physical editions for Xbox Series X/S and PS5. Stay tuned for more details in the coming weeks.

Dead Island 2 is available for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5, and PC. Check out our review of the base game.

The gameplay differs from the base game in that players have four days to prepare for a massive horde on the fifth. Throughout each day, they’ll gather supplies from nearby and complete objectives, earning powerful rewards like new abilities, traps, shelter defenses, and rare weapons. You can only choose one per day, though.

Each Bobcat is a unique class with differing stats, abilities, and signature abilities. The Chemist is all about corrosive booby traps and explosive concoctions while wielding a grenade launcher; the Medic deploys med stations for healing; and the Hunter has a crossbow, throwing knives, firecrackers and meatstick traps. Since they’re ordinary people, Fury Mode won’t be available to help you.

When the fifth day arrives, it’s an all-out battle against waves of zombies to survive. Dead Island 2: Neighborhood Watch arrives on October 22nd as a free update for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5, and PC players. It also includes New Game Plus, which features new skills, enemies, an increased level cap, and more.

Chief among those is going to be a New Game Plus option, something that players have been requesting for a while. In addition to letting players start a new save with their progress intact from a completed one, New Game Plus will also bring an additional skill slot, an increased level cap, entirely new skills and weapons, new enemies to defeat, and increased difficulty.

Then there’s Neighborhood Watch, which is a new co-op horde mode that will see players stepping into the shoes of the Bobcats and protecting their frat house from incoming hordes of zombies. The mode will also bring new mechanics, weapons, and skins, as well as an entirely new location.

“Team up with your crew to tackle missions, set traps and stockpile a lethal arsenal,” Dambuster writes about the mode. “And then…brace yourselves for the fifth and final day, when the zombie onslaught hits hard. If your defenses and teamwork are up to scratch, you might just survive to tell the tale. Plus, you’ll constantly unlock new abilities to make every run more savage and electrifying than the last.”

More details on Patch 6 will be shared in the coming weeks, so stay tuned.

Dead Island 2 is available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

It’s also reached over seven million players on Game Pass since arriving on February 22nd (which matches with Dambuster Studios’ estimate earlier this month). Though its second paid expansion, SoLA, is available now, the development team has confirmed more updates, which it will outline in the “following months.”

Said updates may include Neighborhood Watch, a rumored survival mode with escalating waves of enemies, and New Game Plus, which fans have requested since its release. Whether new paid content is in the works remains to be seen, so stay tuned.

Dead Island 2 is available for Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PS4, PS5, and PC. Check out our review here.