Dead Island 3 without Techland?

[tonicmole]

With the announcement of Techland's new Zombie FPS game Dying Light, a big question mark has popped up with the future of Dead Island. First off Dying Light is Dead Island. The reason it is not Dead Island 3 is that the IP is owned by Deep Silver and Techland has chosen to jump ship and release Dying Light with Warner Brothers Games instead. So, legally they couldn't call it Dead Island 3. This is where things get tricky. Dead Island runs on Techland's Chrome engine, so unless Deep Silver pays for the engine, the next developer would have to start from scratch. Also, Deep Silver would have an identical game literally right next to Dead Island 3......because of the alphabet. Frankly this renders Dead Island dead in the water....derp. Could a new developer go toe to toe with the original developer in identical games? Though Deep Silver has a very solid case for copyright infringement, I'd assume deals have already been worked out behind the scenes. Personally I find this extremely interesting in both legal, and commercial terms. However this is not the first time this has happened. Example #1 would be Guitar Hero vs. Rock Band. Two similar games developed by the same Dev team. Harmonix had trouble killing their original franchise and in the end both games collapsed. Example #2 would be Medal of Honor vs Call of Duty. In this case Infinity Ward created Medal of Honor to much praise then jumped ship and created Call of Duty. In the end, where Infinity Ward went the fans and money followed. Upon Call of Duty's release Medal of Honor began a long journey into the depths of failure. COD on the other hand is doing okay.

If I had to guess, then I'd bet that Riptide was the end of Dead Island and that Deep Silver will now focus more of Saints Row and Metro franchises. In my opinion Deep Silver attempting to beat Techland at their own game....literally, would end in failure. Not to say that another developer couldn't make a better game, because lets face it.....Dead Island isn't a work of art exactly, but at the same time Deep Silver does not have a rich stable of developers in the FPS genre....really they just have Volition....and themselves....oh and Fishlabs....but no, just no. Volition is an amazing developer.....but this would be totally out of their comfort zone. Deep Silver themselves.....they.....really should focus on publishing. I've always assumed everyone at DeepSilver shared one computer or something....Dead Island is just way out of their league. Fishlabs. I think it's actually just one dude. His name is Carl and he just E-mails his games to Deep Silver when he's done. They've never met him, but he seems like a nice guy. Now, the more likely scenario would be hiring a independent studio to take over the franchise.....still, I think an FPS, online co-op, free roam Zombie killing simulator is just more complicated then everyone realizes. So, for a new team to jump in and face off against a developer that will be releasing their 3rd in the genre....good luck with that.

 

[original1993]

I think a different group of devs for dead island would just be damn right wrong; mainly because I hate the idea of publishers owning the game rather than the developers, kinda like how deep silver own saints row and not volition, kinda pisses me off

On the subject of other devs continuing a certain ip, only SOMETIMES a different dev could do it good; look at far cry 1, then crysis and far cry 2, in my personal opinion far cry 2 was the much better game, even though crysis was more simular to far cry 1; same case with infinity ward and treyarch, treyarchs CODs are much better imo
(And not just coz im a huge zombies fanboy fag), I think dead island/dying light w/e is much better with techland I thought the 2 dead island games were great, and thatll probably continue with dying light

It all just depends on the IP and switched to developers, if deep silver was to continue dead island, I reacon if they hired the right devs to do it, but definitely not V, like u said they're great and all, but not right for this sort of thing

 

[tonicmole]

I think a different group of devs for dead island would just be damn right wrong; mainly because I hate the idea of publishers owning the game rather than the developers, kinda like how deep silver own saints row and not volition, kinda pisses me off

On the subject of other devs continuing a certain ip, only SOMETIMES a different dev could do it good; look at far cry 1, then crysis and far cry 2, in my personal opinion far cry 2 was the much better game, even though crysis was more similar to far cry 1; same case with infinity ward and treyarch, treyarchs CODs are much better imo
(And not just coz im a huge zombies fanboy fag), I think dead island/dying light w/e is much better with techland I thought the 2 dead island games were great, and thatll probably continue with dying light

It all just depends on the IP and switched to developers, if deep silver was to continue dead island, I reacon if they hired the right devs to do it, but definitely not V, like u said they're great and all, but not right for this sort of thing

Agreed. Especially about Far Cry. Is it me or is Far Cry 2 and 3 more like Crysis then Crysis 2 and 3? Far Cry 2 and 3 are so freak'n good. Even though I decided I'd never purchase another Ubisoft or EA game because of Uplay and Origin, I just can't quit Ubisoft.....EA, on the other hand is pretty easy to boycott. Boycotting EA is as easy as boycotting anal warts. I also agree Treyarch rocks. They invented sad box super hero games (Spider-man 2). As for Dead Island, There is no real possibility of it surviving. I'm not sure the franchise was ever successful enough to survive an overhaul or style change. Dead Island was defined by gameplay, the characters and story where tolerated at best. I'm still in awe of the black rapper, Asian spy, white quarter back, and African rebel soldier. Seriously? When did Dead Island become a Japanese fighter? Did the Hispanic gardener, Italian chef, and Jewish business man not make the cut?

 

[arkayn]

I tried to like Far Cry 2, but it just did not click with my gaming. Far Cry 3, on the other hand is much better.

 

[tonicmole]

I tried to like Far Cry 2, but it just did not click with my gaming. Far Cry 3, on the other hand is much better.

Funny story about Far Cry 2. I played it like crazy, and then months later me and my family went target shooting for fun. Though I live in hill billy country I've never really taken to shooting guns, however when I looked down the sight all I could think of was Far Cry 2. Long story short I was a freaking crack shot! It's like I couldn't miss. First time a gaming skill translated into reality. I think it has to do with the FOV and the camera positioning. It far better represents aiming in real life then games like Call of Duty and what not.

 

[Corrodias]

I don't know why anyone would bother to buy the Dead Island intellectual property. It's not like it has a lot of brand momentum. It's just a name nobody is passionate about and maybe some characters nobody knows. "Zombies on an island" can be done legally by any company, as proven by Techland's latest game.

 

[tonicmole]

I don't know why anyone would bother to buy the Dead Island intellectual property. It's not like it has a lot of brand momentum. It's just a name nobody is passionate about and maybe some characters nobody knows. "Zombies on an island" can be done legally by any company, as proven by Techland's latest game.

I can't imagine anyone would want to buy it from Deep Silver, but could see Deep Silver trying to save it. For them Dead Island is a HUGE asset, but that's because they have little else. Saints Row, Metro, Dead Island......Risen....Sacred...now we are really pushing the limit of IP. Metro is good, but lacks much mass appeal, Risen is just not as good as it's competition, and Sacred.....well it's been around longer then any of their IP and still is fairly unknown by the general public. Suddenly Dead Island is their second most valuable IP. Actually....it feels like Volition is in a worse position then when they where with THQ. They are literally carrying a entire game publisher. I fear the reason Techland took Dead Island to WB is because DeepSilver couldn't afford the development of current gen gaming.