Dying Light 2’s Developers Are Indulging Toxic Gamers

Image: Techland

As promised, Polish developer Techland today released a video updating the world on the state of the zombie parkour thriller Dying Light 2. and it’s an extremely concise look at one of the most toxic cycles under. underlying the video game industry.

In the first half of the video of about three minutes, various Techland developers have read swearing comments from fans demanding the game’s release or at least proof that it still exists. “FUCK THAT BULLSHIT !!! Release Dying Light 2 or give a fucking GOD DAMNIT demo, ”one of the posts read.

Then the second half of the video begins with one of the developers saying calmly and seriously, “Okay everyone, we’ve got the message. We understand that you are curious about the game because you want Dying Light 2 to be as good as you imagined it to be. “

The devs go on to explain that Dying Light 2 is a big game, a complex game, the type of game that is hard to make (note: they all are), and that the studio just needs a little more time to bring in. its ambitious. creative outlook on life, especially after a year full of unique challenges and tragedies arising from the ongoing pandemic. The second half of the video is defensive, bordering on apologies, seemingly in an effort to appease the game’s more energetic and outspoken fans.

“We all here put our hearts into delivering a game that you will keep playing for months to come,” says one developer as if filming a video hostage.

“We’re proud to have fans as dedicated as you are, however you express your feelings,” says lead designer Tymon Smektała towards the end, completing the unhealthy co-addiction loop of the game. video game marketing.

Techland developers update angry fans on the state of the game and its delays in a new video. Techland

“Normalizing this shit or playing it for a laugh makes the industry worse for everyone,” wrote Brendan Sinclair, editor of GamesIndustry.biz. on Twitter today. He is right.

We’ve seen this play out dozens of times before. A certain segment of game fans love developers until they bombard them with death threats because a game has been delayed or, God forbid, had a bad ending. Yet some of the biggest game studios and publishers continue to respond to these hyper-online and super fickle ‘fans’, as they are also the ones who will be spreading the E3 marketing gospel on social media and private chats. , scold unbelievers, and be prepared to launch a harassment campaign at any time if reviewers’ ratings don’t go as planned.

Dying Light 2 was first revealed during Microsoft’s press conference at E3 2018, three years after the first game’s release. It looked good. A hands-on demo I saw even teased that there might be some interesting worldbuilding going on beyond the standard zombie survival hijinks. But the game never had a firm release date, and early last year, Techland announced he would be delayed indefinitely. So, some Dying Light 2 fans have apparently turned to abuse of the game’s developers, and now Techland is trying to win them back, including with a new short teaser to help them out until the studio is finally ready to go. announce more.

“Everything is fine.” Image: Techland

We saw that exact scenario unfold last year with Cyberpunk 2077. After the game was delayed a third time in late October, lead game designer Andrzej Zawadzki and others reported being harassed over the news. . “I’ll burn you alive if you don’t take the game out” reads one of the death threats. he shared a screenshot. It was several weeks later Bloomberg first reported that the developers of CD Projekt Red were forced to work mandatory overtime to complete the game, and several weeks before some Cyberpunk 2077 fans would go berserk on insufficiently positive reviews of the final match. The game quickly sold 13 million copies and was just as quickly removed from the PlayStation Store for performance issues. Despite years of edgelord marketing, he fell out of NPD sales charts. Who exactly has been served by this whole messy cycle?

And yet we see it again with Dying Light 2. Months after its delay, the Polish site PolskiGameDev.pl reported that development was not going well, and that the studio was struggling to deliver on its promise of a vibrant and changing world. Last month, The player reported that the project suffered from a lack of direction, and cited a number of incidents at the studio that pointed to a toxic business model at Techland. Just last week the studio tweeted, “We announced the game too early, but it’s far from developer hell.” Techland’s management sold a dream for what Dying Light 2 could be to fans years ago and now it’s a nightmare fueling commentators with assholes and potentially deeper issues at the studio.

Eventually the game will be released (the new video says 2021) or it won’t. It can be good, bad, or very good. Whatever the outcome, I hope the highly visible and obvious issues around Cyberpunk 2077, Dying Light 2, and games with similar weapon fanbases will convince the creators to stop relying on the hype circus that has been going on for ever. years to promote their games. Or at the very least, stop acquiescing in the worst parts of the fanbase she tends to build.