Techland, developer of Dead Island, has stated that they would be willing to return to the series to develop a sequel.
In an interview with Videogamer, Tymon Smektala, producer for Dying light reacted to the news that Berlin Studio Yager would no longer be working on Dead Island 2.
“For us, that was sad news,” said Smektala. “When something like that happens in the industry it’s always sad news. You’re never happy that some other developer failed, because it could have been us basically.”
“And another thing that added to the feeling of sadness and disappointment was the fact that Dead Island is our child. It’s a title that we imagined, we developed. We made this game so we still have a very strong connection to that IP.”
He continued: “It’s very bad news. I hope that we will see some more Dead Island in the future and I hope that Yager is not affected [as] much as it may seem right now.”
After developing the initial Dead Island, Techland released Dying Light, and open-world free running, zombie survival game. The mixture of Mirror’s Edge-like parkour gameplay and an expansive upgrading and rewarding upgrading system was well received by critics. Techland has been offering new downloadable content and support since it release, most notable “The Following expansion which was released July 2015.
Despite moving on from Dead Island, Smektala said he would “love to go back to” the property.
“I really love [the first Dead Island],” he said. “I don’t know if there is a developer [attached to Dead Island 2] at all.
“I would [be interested in developing Dead Island 2]. As I said, I love Dead Island and I think there is a place for both franchises [Dead Island and Dying Light]. As long as someone would be able to find something that would make them different, that would draw a clear line … I think that’s doable, then why not?”