Without a doubt, that original trailer for Dead Island 2, released in 2014, is one of the most notorious game trailers of all time, as despite how amazing it looked, the game it was advertising was having a bit of trouble under the hood, finally releasing about 10 years after the trailer’s debut.
Even though Dead Island 2 was eventually released in a pretty good state, it’s one of those few games that was trapped in such a perpetual state of development hell, it was clear the entire project had to be scrapped at least once or twice.
Related
You Can Slash Some Zombies For Free With Epic Game Store’s Next Offering
Time to Slash Some Zombie Heads!
In a development talk shared by gamesindustry.biz, an audience member had a question about this rocky development for Martin Wein, the previous head of communications for Deep Silver, who published Dead Island 2.
According to his testimony about the build of the game being developed around the time of that now infamous 2014 trailer, behind closed doors, things were going as fans have always expected. Essentially, at that time, Wein explains that all they had going for them was that flashy trailer and a pretty “sh*t game.”
Into The Unknown: Player Feedback
It’s pretty hard to just look at a game on the surface and see if it’s good or not, so the first thing that really showed them that they had an issue on their hands was when they “commissioned a play test and got horrific feedback.”
According to Wein, they “clearly had player feedback that said, ‘this is not fun, this is not engaging, this does not feel like the Dead Island that I played.’” And so, it came time to make the decision that strikes many games: do we continue building this in hopes it eventually gets better, or do we scrap all the work we’ve spent all this time and money on?
As Wein states, at that point, they could have just “put out a shit game. It might have made some money, but it would have killed the franchise.” And if you look at flops like Duke Nukem Forever or Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts And Bolts, it very well could’ve been that nail in the coffin if it was in as bad of a shape as he claims.
Related
Destiny 2 Is Like The Toxic Ex Who Will Always Overpromise And Underperform
Should I stay or should I go?
When they “did some in-depth community sentiment analysis, and saw a clear divide between player expectation and motivation and the direction that game development had taken,” they ultimately decided to reshape the game to what we see today.
If you ask me, this was probably the best outcome for the team at the time. Even though we’ll always wonder how bad that original build truly was, given how hyped fans were after the amazing trailer, it might not have been that hard to be the straw that broke the camel’s back.
As Wein illustrates, there is usually a big divide between the goals and ambitions of different parts of development, because even if “development has one vision, marketing has another vision, and usually… the leadership team has a completely different vision.”
The best games are those where all these teams come together. Marketing knows the vision of the developers, and the leadership guides everyone to a unified goal. But when these branches become too spread out or disorganized, it can lead to a situation where canceling the project is perhaps the best solution.
And to be fair, the ultimate version of Dead Island 2 is a pretty competent zombie game, very reminiscent of that 360 era we’re all now nostalgic for. Even if we’ll never be able to see what that original version was like, it’ll always remain in infamy as one of the most hyped builds of a game that never saw the light of day.
Next
Why Can’t Anyone Make A Successful New Silent Hill Entry?
The Silent Hill 2 Remake was a masterpiece. Why is the only good modern Silent Hill game a remake?
Dead Island 2
- Released
-
April 21, 2023
- ESRB
-
M For Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language, Suggestive Themes, Use of Drugs
- Engine
-
Unreal Engine 4
