Dying Light Studio Would "Love to" Develop Dead Island 2

[UPDATE] Smektala has clarified his statements were personal and do not reflect the views of the entire studio.

"I'd like to again clarify that all of the statements I made about Dead Island 2 were my personal opinions only and in no way represent the views of the studio," he said. "I am a huge fan of the original Dead Island as a gamer and would love the franchise to thrive, but any decisions regarding possible Techland's involvement in its franchise are not mine to make, and are never as easy as just "asking".

He continued: "At the moment I'm focusing on Dying Light: The Following hoping to deliver a great expansion to all the fans of the game." [UPDATE ENDS].

Dead Island developer Techland has indicated its willingness to return to the series to develop a sequel.

Speaking to Videogamer, producer Tymon Smektala reacted to recent news that Berlin studio Yager is no longer working on Dead Island 2.

"For us, that was sad news," he said. "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."

Since developing the first Dead Island, Techland has released Dying Light, an open-world zombie survival game that places an emphasis on first-person parkour gameplay. In July 2015, a "feature-heavy" and story-based expansion called The Following was revealed.

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?"

Following the announcement of the split between Yager and Deep Silver, Timo Ulmann, managing director of Yager, said the Dead Island 2 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."