When Deep Silver announced they had made the decision to part ways with Dead Island 2 developer Yager following a difference in creative opinion that must not have come up during the three years it had been in development, it was difficult to see how the project could ever be exhumed from the shallow grave its own publisher was digging for it.
Whatever it’s fate might be, it’s had a very real impact on its former developer.
“Having a project cancelled in such a late state is a catastrophic event on so many different levels,” explained Yager managing director Timo Ullmann in a recent interview with GamesIndustry. “It really is the worst possible outcome. Everybody involved loses.”
The full outcome remains to be seen, but it’s already claimed the studio that had been working on it when Yager Productions closed its doors in July.
“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 chances of our seeing anything positive come out of this are looking grim right now. Deep Silver has yet to announce Yager’s replacement, and now that Dead Island: Epidemic has ceased to exist, I’m beginning to wonder if this franchise hasn’t met an extremely premature end.
