The Polish game developer studio, Techland, has been working on Dying Light 2, having announced the game all the way back at E3 2018. The game was given a spring 2020 release in 2019 but has been delayed as of January with no definite release date. A recent report claimed many problems in the Techland studio including story and game disagreements and mismanagement were the cause. Now, in a recent interview, Senior PR Manager Ola Sondej and Lead Game Designer Tymon Smektala gave their side of the story.
According to Sondej and Smektala, much of the story from polskigamedev.pl did not use the information their employees provided. The story claimed there was no Dying Light 2 vertical slice among other development problems. Sondej refuted this claim by saying, "We’ve had a Dying Light 2 vertical slice for over four years. The foundations remain the same since we have started work on production."
Another claim made in the story was conflict between Head Writer Chris Avellone and Creative Director Adrian Ciszewski. The story claimed that much of Avellone's work was redesigned due to poor quality. However, this was also refuted by Sondej and Avellone. Avellone addressed the rumor by saying, "While Adrian Ciszewski and I discussed story, I never felt like there was any conflict. It’s normal for all design elements to be iterated on, not just narrative." Many games experience creative differences in the studio, and sometimes can lead to video game delays.
Sondej also addressed that the story from polskigamedev.pl used anonymous sources as opposed to the interviews with employees. Sondej confirmed that polskigamedev.pl was given access to talk to employees, but the story omits employee explanations of the claims the author made. Sondej also believes the story is harmful by claiming a strained relationship between Chris Avellone and Techland, with Sondej claiming that no such strain exists.
Some rumors are quickly addressed, like Bethesda's Starfield,by game developers in order to clarify information and it seems like Techland has been proactive in making sure the state of their studio is clear. However, the game release date is still in the dark and reasons for the delay remain cloudy.
Despite the delays, the trailers and gameplay point to an exciting release. The first Dying Light was received with positive reviews and the sequel is said to expand many aspects of the original including new zombies and improved parkour. According to the interview with Sondej and Smektala, many of the rumors are refuted and the studio continues to work hard to release the improved Dying Light 2.
Dying Light 2 is in development.
Source: Escapist Magazine