Deep Silver drops Dead Island 2 developer

In a surprising announcement, Deep Silver has revealed that Yager Development, the studio famous for creating Spec Ops: The Line, is no longer working on Dead Island 2.

No reason for the split with Yager was given, nor is there any indication as to how this will impact the launch date. It's strictly speculation, but there may be some connection to the delay of Dead Island 2, which was originally slated to come out in the spring of 2015 but, in April, was pushed back to an even less-definite 2016.

Yager is also working on another project, spaceship combat sim Dreadnought, which is being published by Grey Box.

We've reached out to Deep Silver for more information, and will update if and when we receive a reply.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.