Dead Island 2 Dev Cites "Difference in Vision" For Parting Ways With Publisher

The former developer of Dead Island 2 has said a difference in vision between the studio and Deep Silver resulted in the decision to go its separate ways.

Timo Ulmann, managing director of Yager Developments, said in a statement that the project "fell out of alignment."

"Our team is made of the best creative minds and tech specialists, who all share a common identity. The team worked with enthusiasm to take Dead Island 2 to a new level of quality. However, Yager and Deep Silver's respective visions of the project fell out of alignment, which led to the decision that has been made."

The studio is also currently working on Dreadnought, a flight combat simulator with Grey Box attached as publisher. Looking forward, Ulmann said the studio will "focus current efforts on Dreadnout", along with "new projects."

Deep Silver announced the decision to part ways with Yager on July 14: "After careful consideration, today we announce the decision to part ways with development partner Yager.

"With Dead Island 2, Deep Silver has always been dedicated to delivering the sequel that Dead Island fans deserve."

It added: "We will continue working towards bringing our vision of Dead Island 2 to life, and we will share further information at a later stage."

Deep Silver has not yet announced it which studio would be taking over development duties.

Dead Island 2 was officially announced during Sony's E3 press conference last summer for PlayStation 4. The game is also coming to Xbox One and PC, but its beta will be launched first on PS4.

The game will feature a heavy emphasis on melee combat and role-playing game elements. According to Deep Silver, it will also have "never-before-seen" handcrafted weapons. The game is powered by Unreal Engine 4, and will take players to places like the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and Venice Beach.

Another previously touted feature is "seamless" multiplayer for up to eight players that can "cooperate, compete, or simply coexist." The publisher has described this as a "new-gen multiplayer experience."