Dead Island 2

Dead Island 2 is an upcoming action role-playing video game developed by Sumo Digital and published by Deep Silver for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The game was originally being developed by Yager Development, until Sumo Digital took over development in March 2016. It is the sequel to 2011 video game Dead Island and the third major installment in the Dead Island series. The game's main storyline is set several months after the events of Dead Island and Escape Dead Island. Unlike its predecessors, which took place on islands as the titles state, Dead Island 2 takes place in various locations in California.

Gameplay
Dead Island 2 features an open world. The game takes place in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and an undisclosed third location in California, unlike the first game which was set on the island of Banoi off the coast of Papua New Guinea. The game's combat has different mechanics than its predecessors. Dead Island 2 also includes several features from its predecessors, such as the Rage and crafting systems.

Plot
A couple of months after the events of Dead Island, the United States Armed Forces has put California under a full quarantine restricted zone due to a new zombie outbreak.

Development
Techland was originally set to develop Dead Island 2, but instead they decided to focus on developing Dying Light with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. Deep Silver went looking for a developer until Yager Development pitched the game to Deep Silver in Q3 2012 and got the deal. As announced at Sony's E3 2014 media briefing, Dead Island 2 will be more vibrant than its predecessors. The game was originally scheduled for a Q2 2015 release.

At Gamescom 2014, Deep Silver demonstrated gameplay footage from an early version of the game. According to the presented content, the game is set in California, including landmarks such as the Santa Monica Pier and Hollywood, as well as many locations in San Francisco. Similarly, only a fraction of the weapon modifications and the new zombies have been shown at the stage. Furthermore, Deep Silver stated that the game will feature four playable characters, though only two were shown at the Gamescom Demo. It will also feature eight-player cooperative multiplayer.

In July 2015, Deep Silver announced that Yager has been dropped from developing the game and development will be moved to another unnamed developer. The managing director of Yager Development, Timo Ullmann, later stated that the company's departure from the project occurred because "Yager and Deep Silver's respective visions of the project fell out of alignment". As a result, the game's separate development team, Yager Productions GmbH, filed for insolvency in July 2015. In March 2016, UK-based studio Sumo Digital announced that it took over the development. In August 2017, Deep Silver reiterated that the game was still in development, making a similar statement again in July 2018.