Techland Denies That Dying Light 2’s Development Is Troubled
Dying Light 2’s developer Techland recently pushed back against a May news article that reported workplace issues at the Polish studio during the game’s development. The studio also said that the game is in “the last stretch” of development.
According to Polish gaming news site PolskiGamedev.pl, work on Dying Light 2 has been fraught with poor management, stress, and conflict between the game’s narrative designer Chris Avellone and creative director Adrian Ciszewski.
In a lengthy interview with The Escapist, senior Techland PR manager Ola Sondej said that the article contained “many inaccuracies” that Techland “tried to rectify in the materials” it gave to the article’s author. She also denied that Dying Light 2 has been going through significant issues. “Development of Dying Light 2 is moving forward according to our internal schedule we revised at the beginning of the year,” she said.
Additionally, Avellone denied in a statement that there’s been tension with Ciszewski. “While Adrian Ciszewski and I discussed story, I never felt like there was any conflict,” he said. “It’s normal for all design elements to be iterated on, not just narrative. Story is a key element for Dying Light 2, and it’s important to the team and I to get it right.”
When asked if Dying Light 2 is still planned to launch in 2020, lead game designer Tymon Smektala said that the game is nearly done.
“There’s a whole team at Techland that works on the announcement of the release date for the game and every piece of info that accompanies it, and I know they want to surprise players,” Smektala said, “so I don’t want to spoil it for them or our community. The only thing I can say is please trust us — it’s the last stretch for this project, and we need your support.”