Dead Island 2 is quickly becoming one of the definitive examples of games stuck in development hell. It's striking and deeply unfortunate how much the sequel to Deep Silver's significant zombie hit has struggled to release. Players have been waiting for about a decade for this game to come together, and it just can't seem to. Dead Island 2 keeps getting passed from developer to developer, presumably largely overhauling itself in the middle of development. Thankfully for fans, it's apparently still alive. Deep Silver insists that Dead Island 2 is still in the works, so fans have reason to hope that the game will emerge someday.
Still, that doesn't mean the wait is any easier — especially for fans who have already put money into Dead Island 2. Fans have been able to pre-order Dead Island 2 for many years, which certainly wasn't anything out of the ordinary in 2014 or so, when Dead Island fans expected the game to release within a year. Instead, it's now 2021, and fans haven't seen a return on their investment. A pre-order lasting over five years is pretty unheard of, and really drives home the unbelievable nature of Dead Island 2's troubled development. If players can still pre-order the game, though, that at the very least should be another reason to hope that the game will release someday.
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It can't be understated just how long some fans have been waiting to get Dead Island 2. Fans have been sitting on pre-orders for the better part of a decade, which means some fans theoretically have gone all the way through college, then settled down and started adult lives, all without playing Dead Island 2. Odds are many fans have gone through major events like that in this time. Many Dead Island fans have probably gone all the way through high school and college, changed jobs many times, moved all over the world, or maybe even retired since pre-ordering Dead Island 2. Dead Island 2 is even older than some kids of Dead Island fans — it's practically a $60 kid itself.
What's really striking about these grade-school-aged pre-orders is that they haven't closed yet. Dead Island fans can still go to GameStop's website to pre-order the awaited sequel, even though the game has taken as long as it has to release. Some fans might even feel compelled to do so, to encourage Deep Silver and Dambuster Studios to keep fighting the good fight and get Dead Island 2 together. It'd certainly be a big vote of confidence to pre-order the game now, considering how little fans know about its future.
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Anyone who has in fact pre-ordered Dead Island 2 should probably keep an eye out for news on the game. That's because some fans are thinking that there's a good chance Dead Island 2 won't be coming to the PS4 and Xbox One as planned. Recent Dambuster Studios job listings seem to suggest it has a AAA project in the works for PS5 and Xbox Series X. However, Dambuster hasn't said anything about upcoming projects. All fans know about is Dead Island 2, which it's had on its hands for some time now. If the game really does become a next-gen exclusive, Deep Silver will have to think of a way to address these pre-orders.
In fact, the lingering pre-orders might be compelling evidence that Dead Island 2 isn't going to be a next-gen exclusive. There's got to be at least some Dead Island 2 content designed for the PS4 and Xbox One after all this time, so it likely wouldn't be next-gen exclusive. With that in mind, there's hope yet that the money spent on Dead Island 2 will be made worthwhile eventually. When fans of the franchise put in their orders for this troubled sequel, nobody expected that the game would be old enough to walk, talk, and go to school by the time the orders were fulfilled. At the very least, if Dead Island 2 comes out eventually, these long waits will be funny to look back on.
Dead Island 2 is in development for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.