Insights into the Cancelled 2014 Version of Dead Island 2: A Franchise-Saving Decision

During a Develop:Brighton talk on product/market fit, Martin Wein from GameFlex Consultants recalled a time when a development team strayed from the design vision, and how market research helped get the project back on track. In 2014, Wein was the head of communications for Deep Silver, the publisher behind popular series like Saints Row, Dead Island, and Metro. After Techland, the original developer of Dead Island, moved on to work on Dying Light, Deep Silver partnered with Yager to develop a sequel. The eye-catching "Jogger" trailer for Dead Island 2 was released at E3 2014, but the game that followed was a major disappointment. According to Wein, the game had nothing to do with what made the original Dead Island fun, and play tests revealed horrific feedback. Despite this, the development team was given a chance to improve, but two or three months later, the game remained unchanged. As a result, Deep Silver made the difficult decision to take the game away from the external developer and find a new studio, leading to an eight-year delay. The game was eventually released in April 2023 and sold over 3 million copies by May 2024. Wein emphasized that sometimes hard decisions must be made to ensure the success of a franchise, and that in this case, releasing a poor game could have killed the Dead Island series. He also highlighted the importance of product/market fit, which involves researching the size of the potential audience and adjusting the development scope and budget accordingly. Wein noted that the gaming industry is often slower to adopt this concept, which has been crucial in the luxury goods and fashion industries since the 1950s and 1960s. He also stressed the need for collaboration and trust between marketing and development teams, as well as the importance of continuous market research throughout the development process. One key takeaway was that 10% of the marketing budget should be reserved for research using services like Video Game Insights. Wein also gave examples of successful product/market fit, such as Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, which found an unmet market need for turn-based RPGs and had a targeted marketing campaign. In conclusion, Wein emphasized that achieving product/market fit requires keeping all parts of the business aligned on the same vision and working together as a team.