Dead Island 2 Studio is Aiming for Q1/Q2 2028 Release Window for Dead Island 3

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Dambuster Studios hinted at a new Dead Island game last September, but hadn’t shared any updates since. Recent financial reports, spotted by Timur222, suggest Dead Island 3 is currently planned for release between January and June of 2028. This is the first time the game has been officially named Dead Island 3.

According to a recent strategy report, Dambuster Studios is now fully focused on developing Dead Island 3 following the October 2024 release of Dead Island 2 Ultimate Edition. All developers are working on the new title, and once the Luna and Mac versions of Dead Island 2 are finished, the entire quality assurance team will join the project. Early work on Dead Island 3—including designing the features, characters, world, and story—is progressing quickly, with a projected release date sometime in the first quarter of 2028.

The Dead Island games have been very popular. When the developers first hinted at a new installment in September, Dambuster Studios also announced that over 20 million people had played Dead Island 2 since it launched in 2023.

The hint for the new content showed a character seemingly leaving the city of Los Angeles from Dead Island 2, hitchhiking on a highway. The image included the text, “When there’s no more room in HELL-A…” The studio also mentioned that they’re already hard at work on the next outbreak and that the story isn’t finished yet.

As a big fan of the Dead Island series, I recently came across some interesting comments from Martin Wein, who used to head up communications at Deep Silver. He was saying that the original Dead Island game, the one Yager was working on before Dambuster Studios took over, would have been a disaster and likely killed the whole franchise. It’s amazing to think how different things could have been, and I’m really glad Dambuster Studios ended up taking the lead – they’ve done a fantastic job with the series!

At the Develop:Brighton conference in July, Rhiannon Wein explained the lengthy delays that plagued the initial development of Dead Island 2 when it was under Yager. She stated that she and the development team were directly responsible for a delay of approximately eight years.

So, I was working with the creative folks on the trailer, and we were really happy with how it turned out. But then, just a few weeks later, we hit a major snag with the development team – and honestly, the build they delivered was…rough. It just wasn’t good, plain and simple.

He explained that the new version didn’t capture what made the first Dead Island so enjoyable. They ran a test with players and received very negative feedback. The team then met to discuss how to fix it, and the developers assured them they would take care of it.

Even though players didn’t enjoy the game during testing and provided feedback saying it wasn’t fun or engaging and didn’t feel like a true Dead Island experience, Wein observed that the developers weren’t making any changes to address these concerns.

I finally got my hands on Dead Island 2: Ultimate Edition! It came out in 2024 for pretty much every platform – PC, PlayStation 4 & 5, and Xbox One and Series X/S. It’s awesome because it includes the main game and all the DLC that’s been released. If you’re curious if it’s worth checking out, you can read my full review of Dead Island 2.

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2025-12-16 15:42