THQ Nordic assures Dead Island 2 is still under development

A new statement by THQ Nordic CEO Lars Wingefors gives further hope that the sequel to 2011’s smash zombie hit Dead Island 2 is indeed not canned and is still being worked on. While Wingefors’s remarks about the game was very brief, he asked viewers to stay tuned for more information.

Dead Island’s tale is a fascinating one. Released close to a decade ago, in the midst of last-gen, the somewhat janky zombie action game quickly won over gamers with its unique blend of open-world exploration and first-person melee combat on a tropical island. Developed by Polish studio Techland, the surprise success warranted a spin-off not far after with Dead Island: Riptide.

With the ever-popular zombie genre and two successful games in the franchise, it didn’t come as a surprise when a real sequel was announced soon after Riptide with Dead Island 2. That was back in 2014, right when the new generation of home consoles was kicking off. The stylish trailer for Dead Island 2 confirmed that the same joyful yet tense atmosphere of its predecessors would continue in sunny California.

But what many fans were hoping for a soon release turned into somewhat of a mess, with delay upon delay and general bad news on the game’s development. Only one year after the announcement, the publisher parted ways with developer Yager. And despite finding a new studio with Sumo Digital in 2016, we never got to learn more news about Dead Island 2 ever since, apart from yearly admissions that the game was still under development.

A whole console generation has passed by and there’s still nothing concrete to look at but today we at least get to hear from the head honcho at THQ Nordic to stay tuned and that the game is still being worked on. Whether this means the wait will be long or not remains to be seen.