‘Dead Island 2’ Officially Goes Gold – Ahead of Schedule

Great news! The wait for Dead Island 2 just got shorter, and the game is getting some updates sure to delight fans.

The original Dead Island was developed by Techland and published by Deep Silver back in 2011. It was an open-world action RPG where players have to survive a zombie outbreak as one of four survivors. It all takes place on a fictional island called Banoi.

Dead Island

The game also had one of the most heartbreaking trailers ever. and it made people incredibly excited about its release. The problem is the game’s story did not live up to the trailer – the game itself came out to mixed reviews. Dead Island still has its fans. And eventually, it became a little more beloved and even got a re-release in 2016.

The game still sold well and Deep Silver released a standalone DLC in 2013 called Dead Island: Riptide and a spin-off called Escape Dead Island in 2014. It was around this time they also announced Dead Island 2 with an amazing trailer. So amazing that it was recently spoofed by Goat Simulator 3 announcement trailer last year.

It’s been almost a decade since then and fans just got the best news.

Going Gold

Dead Island 2 is set to take place after Dead Island. A brand new zombie outbreak has taken over California and the state has been put under quarantine by the government. It promises to be different from the first game with new mechanics and playable survivors. Dead Island 2‘s official Twitter recently put out the good news that not only has the game gone gold, but it’s also now coming out a week earlier than originally planned. 

For those who do not know what “going gold” is, it means the game’s development is now considered complete enough to be sold in stores. This is a great sign for gamers because the release schedule won’t be delayed anymore. The version of the game on discs sent out is usually based on this “master copy” as well as the first version downloaded when bought digitally.  Nowadays a game gets patched if anything comes up post-release.

Fans who have been waiting for Dead Island 2 absolutely needed this news after how long it has taken to get here.

A Troubled Development

Techland was originally set to develop the sequel with Deep Silver publishing again. The developers decided to go in a different direction and went to make Dying Light with Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment instead. Deep Silver then went with Yager Development after they pitched them a version of the game in 2012. That version of the game is what was originally shown at E3 2014. The game was set for a release in Q2 2015 and was even shown off at Gamescom 2014.

Yager Development eventually left the project in July 2015 due to “Yager and Deep Silver’s respective visions of the project [falling] out of alignment.” Sumo Digital, the developer of Little Big Planet 3, was then tasked with making the game in 2016. Years went by with no new release date or footage. People were starting to wonder if this game was even being made.

Sumo Digital was then taken off the project in 2019. THQ Nordic announced that Deep Silver’s internal studio Dambuster Studios was taking over the development of Dead Island 2. Luckily 4th time was the charm in this case and a brand new reveal trailer was shown at Gamescom 2022. The game got a brand new release date of February 3rd.

Eventually, it was delayed to April 28th to give the studio a little more time to polish the game. The news of it making gold is honestly a miracle with how many studios this game went through. Dead Island 2 has come a long way from where it was in 2014 and whether or not that is a good thing has yet to be seen.

Dead Island 2 is set to release on April 21 for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. Let us know in the comments if you are still excited about Dead Island 2!

“Rule 9: A club does not have to be reloaded.” – Zombieland

Author: Spider-Mike

Spider-Mike is a staff writer who is a regular co-host on the let's play channel Rage Select and regular contributor to One of US.net for over 5 years. Born in Austin, but raised on the border of Texas and Mexico. He has been gaming since the NES and jokes that he has a Masters in Spider-Man, Superman, and Dragon Ball.