Open world survival game Dying Light 2 has been in the works for a while now and developer Techland has been mostly silent about its progress in recent months. However, the studio tweeted today that it will update the community on the game's development on March 17, 2021.

“We've got a few words to share with you about the Dying Light 2 development process,” Techland said on Twitter. “Be sure to be with us next Wednesday.” It's possible the team will finally announce the game's release date next week.

Since Dying Light 2's initial reveal at E3 2018, Techland has delayed the game once publicly (but it has likely been delayed internally multiple times). It was initially supposed to launch in the first half of 2020, but was pushed to an unannounced date in the future. It currently does not have a release window.

According to a report from TheGamer, Techland has suffered from mismanagement and toxic work culture behind the scenes which has led to slowed progress on Dying Light 2. There were stories of managers who made sexist, homophobic comments to developers, which lowered morale among staff — along with a severe lack of direction — making it hard for the team at large to meet deadlines and reach milestones.

One source told TheGamer “Horrible management decisions and lack of a coherent vision are what make people just slowly spiral into an apathetic state. That and the constant changes that end up forcing people to scrap their work.”

On top of all that, lead writer Chris Avellone was accused of sexual misconduct and was removed from the project last year — a decision that was clearly justified, but one that yet again altered the course of the game's progress. It's clear Dying Light 2 has had a tumultuous history and with such ambitious ideas, a lot of what was originally planned had to be trimmed down or entirely scrapped so the game's development could move along.

All of these issues are on top of working remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has impacted the way games are made. We've got our fingers crossed for a Dying Light 2 release date reveal next Wednesday, but given the game's rough history, it's best to be cautious with our expectations.

Source: Techland

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Joseph Yaden

Joseph loves Nintendo and horror games. When he's not writing about video games he can usually be found petting his cats and listening to some Progressive Metal. He thinks Meshuggah is tight.

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