Zombie slayers, it’s time to sharpen your machetes once again. While we’re still cleaning up the guts in Hell-A, Dambuster Studios has officially confirmed that the next chapter in the franchise is coming.
Following the massive success of Dead Island 2—which recently hit a staggering 20 million players—the studio’s latest financial reports have revealed that Dead Island 3 is now in active development.
Here is everything we know about the upcoming threequel:
The Development Status
According to official strategic reports from Dambuster Studios (released in late 2025), the primary focus for the entire team has shifted to Dead Island 3.
- Full Steam Ahead: All developers at the Nottingham-based studio are now assigned to the project.
- Early Production: The game is currently in the early production phase. This means the team is actively "moving at pace" on character designs, world-building, and the core story.
- The "A-Team": Now that the Mac and Luna versions of Dead Island 2 are finished, even the QA (testing) teams have been moved over to the new title.
Release Window: When can we play?
While the news is exciting, we’re going to need some patience. Dambuster Studios has set a predicted release window of Q1/Q2 2028.
That puts the launch somewhere between January and June 2028. While that feels like a long wait, it’s a much faster turnaround than the decade-long "development hell" that the second game suffered.
What to Expect from Dead Island 3
Dambuster has been tight-lipped on specific plot points, but they’ve left some breadcrumbs:
- The Location: A teaser image released by the studio featured a desert landscape with the caption, "When there’s no more room in Hell-A." This suggests we might be leaving Los Angeles for a new, perhaps more open, wasteland.
- Evolution of Gore: Dead Island 2 set a high bar with the "FLESH" system (procedural dismemberment). Expect the third game to push those technical boundaries even further on next-gen hardware.
Why This is Great News
For a long time, fans feared the Dead Island franchise was dead and buried. The fact that a third game is already the "primary focus" of the studio proves that the series is now a heavy hitter in the gaming world.
Are you ready to leave Hell-A behind for a new outbreak? Let us know in the comments where you want the next game to take place!
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