Dying Light 2 was supposed to be out by now, as the original schedule tentatively had the sequel coming out in Spring 2020. However, Polish developer Techland delayed the game indefinitely back in January, citing the need for more development time to fulfill the creative vision and the priority to deliver a high-quality experience that is up to the lofty expectations set by the first game.
Earlier today, Polish website PolskiGameDev.pl posted an exposé on the development state of Dying Light 2, citing anonymous Techland sources. The article doesn’t paint a pretty picture, mentioning a general lack of focus and the difficulty to implement Chris Avellone’s Fallout: New Vegas-like vision for the dynamic world, among other issues.
We were able to receive a statement from a Techland PR representative on that article. You can read it in its full extent below.
At Techland, we work as a team and we grow as a team. We are proud that many of our employees have chosen to be with us for years.
The mentioned article contains various opinions – from both our employees and anonymous sources. Each opinion matters to us, so we are now carefully analyzing all the topics raised.
When it comes to Dying Light 2 – development is moving forward according to our internal schedule we revised at the beginning of the year.
It doesn’t sound like the development troubles are being utterly denied, then. On the contrary, Techland appears eager to embrace the criticisms in order to hopefully fix at least some of those issues by the time Dying Light 2 is released.
Another part of the exposé mentioned the possibility of Microsoft acquiring Techland. The article even suggested the news could be announced during tomorrow’s Inside Xbox episode, but that won’t be the case at all as we were assured that Techland isn’t even in talks to be acquired and the studio plans to stay independent.
We’re remaining independent. We’re not in talks with anyone about being potentially acquired.
While Dying Light 2 is getting improved and refined ahead of release, Dying Light fans will at least be treated to a new Hellraid-themed DLC, due this Summer on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
