Yet another 2020 video game has been pushed back, as Techland has announced that Dying Light 2 will no longer be released in Spring 2020. Dying Light 2 was set to be one of the biggest games of the first half of 2020 and its delay leaves a sizable hole in the AAA release calendar.
Released five years ago in January 2015, the original Dying Light was something of a surprise hit. An open-world action game based around first-person combat and parkour gameplay, Dying Light represented a significant step-up in quality from developer Techland’s popular Dead Island series. The game’s unique take on the well-worn zombie genre earned praise from critics and fans alike, translating to an impressive five million units sold. The sequel was announced at E3 2018, with Techland revealing that narrative would play a bigger role this time around. To that end, the studio hired writers who worked on The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt to help beef up Dying Light 2’s story elements.
Now, it looks like fans will have to wait a bit longer to see if the game’s story is the real deal. In a statement on the official Dying Light Twitter account, Techland CEO Pawel Marchewka has confirmed Dying Light 2 will miss its Spring 2020 release window. According to Marchewka, the delay is a result of his team needing more development time to deliver “exactly what we promised”.
Marchewka did not reveal a new release date, mentioning only that his team would have more details in the coming months. Previously, the studio said Dying Light 2 would be a cross-generation game but it’s unclear how the delay will impact plans to bring the game to next-gen platforms like PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. For now, Dying Light 2 is known to be in development on PS4, Windows PC, and Xbox One.
The New Year has brought its fair share of game delays, with Dying Light 2 joining a growing list of highly anticipated releases that have been pushed back. Not even a week ago, one of the biggest games of the year, Cyberpunk 2077, was delayed from April all the way to September. Other recent prominent delays include Marvel’s Avengers being moved from May to September and Final Fantasy VII Remake, which will now come out in April instead of March. While game delays are always disappointing, they tend to result in a better finished product. Game development is difficult enough as it is, so it makes sense to developers as much time as possible to finish their creations. However, with crunch still being a serious issue across the game industry, it can only be hoped that the teams behind Dying Light 2 and other delayed games this year aren’t overworked even more in the coming months.
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Dying Light 2 is currently in development for PS4, Windows PC, and Xbox One. A new release date will be revealed at a later date.
Source: Techland/Twitter
