Dead Island 2, the long-awaited zombie RPG, has had a tumultuous development history, with multiple delays and studio changes over the past nine years. But it’s finally almost here, set to release on April 28, 2023 for PC, Xbox Series X|S, PS5, Xbox One, and PS4. This release date was announced in mid-November 2022, and it came as a delay announcement. The game was previously set for February 2023. Hopefully it’s the last delay in store for the long in-development game.

The story of Dead Island 2’s development is a complicated one, but it began in 2014 when it was announced that Yager, the studio behind the original Dead Island, would be developing the sequel. However, the Polish studio later revealed it was not making Dead Island 2 due to creative differences with publisher Deep Silver. Yager was pulled from the project in 2015, and the game was given a new lead studio in the form of Sumo Digital. Following that announcement, the game went dark for multiple years, with many assuming it was quietly cancelled.

In 2018, Deep Silver announced that despite the lack of updates, Dead Island 2 had not been cancelled, though it offered no substantial updates in the form of trailers or other news. The publisher was later acquired by THQ Nordic, giving the game its second publisher and its third lead studio, Dambuster Studios. In 2020, Embracer Group, THQ Nordic’s parent company, said not to expect any more updates on the game until after March 2021.

From Gamescom in August 2021, Dead Island 2 came roaring back in its current and seemingly final iteration. The game is now able to be pre-ordered and it has received a number of updates, trailers, and more that seem to suggest the game is really going to launch this time.

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