Dead Island 2 - Why isn't Techland Making it?

Robert Purchese of Eurogamer took the time to interview Techland Game Designer Maciej Binkowski about why Yager is developing the game instead of Techland.

Why isn't Polish developer Techland making Dead Island 2?

Dead Island wasn't fantastic but it was successful - very successful. In February 2013 the game passed the five million sales mark. Five million sales! And for a new IP! Techland clearly did something right.

But what it didn't do was retain ownership of the IP.

"Right from the start, the IP was theirs," Techland game designer Maciej Binkowski told me, referencing publisher Deep Silver (Saints Row, Homefront). It was Techland's game, Techland's idea, but it wasn't a strong enough entity as a developer to argue.

"At that point we weren't really in a position to negotiate," he said, "so that was the best deal we could get. It's like playing poker: you have to make a decision with the information you have now. If you play the game thinking that something might happen, you're going to lose the game. At that point, that was the best decision we could do."

Techland made two Dead Island games for Deep Silver: Dead Island, and standalone expansion Dead Island: Riptide. Riptide wasn't brilliant but again it wasn't awful.

But a month after Riptide's April 2013 release, Techland announced a new zombie-killing game called Dying Light. A year later, at E3 2014, Dead Island 2 was announced - a game made by Spec Ops: The Line developer Yager.

What happened - did Techland and Deep Silver fall out?

"Well, you know, we had our ups and downs," Binkowski said. "There's always tension between the publisher and developer.

"For us it turned out well, because being forced to come up with a new IP... We can't just make a Dead Island 2 and change the name; it's got to be something fresh, it's got to be something unique.

"It was a bit tough," he added. "I would love to make a direct sequel, but at some point a decision was made."