
Former Dead Island 2 Developer: Losing it Was Catastrophic
Germany-based studio Yager is no longer a part of Dead Island 2 development. Company’s partnership with Dead Island 2 publisher Deep Silver ended due to the title being “fell out of alignment”. Timo Ullmann, Yager managing director, expressed his thoughts on what impact being eliminated from Dead Island 2 development had to their studio.
“Having a project cancelled in such a late state is a catastrophic event on so many different levels,” Ullmann commented. “It really is the worst possible outcome. Everybody involved loses.”
After being removed from Dead Island 2 project, Yager had to shut down Yager Productions which was created specially to work on the zombie themed game development. This shut down caused many jobs being lost; some company employees started their own studios.
“I really don’t blame them, and we wish them all the best,” Timo Ullmann said in his statement. “It’s tough, and not being given the chance to finish Dead Island 2, that… that hurts, you know? Right after the announcement a part of the team was a bit shell-shocked, of course, but you have to motivate yourself to keep going. Cancellation of projects, especially if the stakes are so high, is not unheard of. It hurt us, yes, but it happens.”
The decision to eliminate Yager from Dead Island 2 development was announced in July by Deep Silver themselves.
“After careful consideration, today we announce the decision to part ways with development partner Yager,” Deep Silver stated at that time. “With Dead Island 2, Deep Silver has always been dedicated to delivering the sequel that Dead Island fans deserve. We will continue working towards bringing our vision of Dead Island 2 to life, and we will share further information at a later stage.”
However, it is still unclear which studio will be selected to take over development for Dead Island 2.
The beginning of Dead Island 2 development was first announced during Sony’s E3 press event. The game is expected to be available for PS4, Xbox One and PC. Dead Island 2 beta version will be first released on PlayStation 4.
Yager is working on another game, a space battle game named Dreadnaught. It is planned to be launched in 2016 and will be available for PC.