14 DAY TRIAL // Yager, the developer that was initially responsible for the upcoming Dead Island 2 zombie experience, confirms that publisher Deep Silver ceased its partnership with the studio due to differences when it came to the general vision for the whole title.
The Dead Island series kicked off some time ago and immediately saw a spinoff in the form of Dead Island: Riptide, both coming from Polish studio Techland, while being published by Deep Silver.
However, for the full-fledged sequel - Dead Island 2 - the publisher decided to take things to a new team, and tasked Yager with developing the next zombie experience.
The German studio, which earned a cult following for Spec Ops: The Line, appeared to be working hard on the project, but Deep Silver has announced this week that it's stopping the collaboration and seeking a new team to work on Dead Island 2.
Yager confirms differences in vision led to contract termination
While Deep Silver declined to offer any reasoning for the move, Yager made a statement to GamesIndustry, through the voice of Managing Director and CEO Timo Ullmann.
He confirms that differences in the general vision for the project led to the termination of the contract between Yager and Deep Silver, despite enthusiasm and a quality-oriented approach from his team.
"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," he explains.
Unfortunately, no exact details were offered, probably due to a non-disclosure agreement between the two companies. Even so, it's going to be interesting to see what happens with Dead Island 2 and how Yager will continue to work on its own original intellectual property, in the form of multiplayer space flight simulator Dreadnought.