Dead Island 2 is still in "active development" and may be out in 2023

Dead Island 2 may be out at the beginning of 2023.

Though Embracer has yet to say anything publicly about the long-awaited game, CEO Lars Wingefors did mention it briefly in the company's recent investor Q&A session. Some now believe his indirect statements hint that the game may release in the 2023 fiscal year, which closes on 31st March, 2023.

"People have sort of written off [Dead Island 2], not knowing if it's still alive. But it very clearly is," Q&A host Oscar Erixon - a Carnegie equity research analyst - said (thanks, PC Gamer). "I, at least, expect the release this financial year - sorry, next financial year, I should say. Is that reasonable? What can we expect from the title? It's been in development for probably ten years or so."

"I can't talk about Dead Island 2 because it's not announced, as such, from the publisher, but we have just talked about - we have one unannounced triple-A title that you think is Dead Island 2," Wingefors responded. "It's hard for me to comment further on that. But I'm excited about unannounced titles."

When pressed for comment, Deep Silver wouldn't say any more to press.

"We have confirmed that the game is in active development and will share more details once we are ready," a statement from the company said.

People are so desperate for a slice of Dead Island 2, they were downloading and playing a five-year-old build of Dead Island 2 last summer.

The build, which reportedly emerged on the V board of 4Chan and was dated June 2015, was playable, although there were placeholder assets throughout. Footage from it was popping up all over YouTube. In March 2016, Deep Silver announced UK studio Sumo Digital had taken on Dead Island 2. Then, in August 2019, Deep Silver announced it had brought development in-house at Homefront: The Revolution maker Dambuster Studios.

Dead Island 2 has been in the works for quite some time, then, and has clearly suffered a rocky development as it's shifted between three studios. It was first announced at E3 2014 with its now famously eye-catching trailer - which you can see above.

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