Dying Light 2 Devs: “Announced Too Early”

I’ve yet to understand the world of internet commenters: If it isn’t funny or you are providing a critique of what has just been said, why are you engaging with it? Sometimes there are comments and replies that are providing substance, and then there are those who will nitpick useless things. This also applies to developers who don’t understand something is an opinion. That latter comment isn’t a smack back at Techland, but instead a response to them and something else we here at Phenixx Gaming noticed.

Nonetheless, whenever a developer or publisher notes an upcoming announcement, there will be several transcribing more recent half-read news articles based on one article describing the word of a few sources. Could I be more passive-aggressive towards games journalism? The point I am trying to make is that while an article that Mike covered of possible troubles at the studio might very well be true, the studio denies several claims by those regurgitating said report with a trace of bitterness, as if it is proven fact. The best anyone can hope for is that the claims are unfounded.

However, there is one fact that even Techland’s PR team working on Dying Light 2 can’t deny, the game was announced a little too early. In a recent tweet sent out following the announcement… of an upcoming announcement on the 17th of March; The team admitted the game might have been revealed a smidge early. “[As far as I know,] the definition of a dev hell requires the game to not make any development progress,” Said a social media manager for the game’s Twitter. They went on to state, “While DL2 keeps moving forward, we announced the game too early[,] but it’s far from being in a dev hell 😛[.]”

Afaik the definition of a dev hell requires the game to not make any development progress, while DL2 keeps moving forward, we announced the game too early but it's far from being in a dev hell 😛

— Dying Light (@DyingLightGame) March 12, 2021

Following the nightmare of Cyberpunk 2077 that has led to several legal issues, it is refreshing to see a developer admit they might have hastened their reveal at E3. Cyberpunk was announced back in 2012, with a release eight years later and following several delays. Dying Light 2 itself was only announced back in 2018 at Microsoft’s E3 showcase, with nothing major happening, other than a reported leak. The leak was the only instance of a release date made as of yet. The aforementioned “dev hell” rumors are the only other significant stories around the game.

However, what I was referencing early on is a tweet by someone replying to this admission of an early reveal, noting how “it’s super unprofessional to use ‘:P’ in an official statement, honestly.” As if superlatives such as “super” don’t degrade a comment from being professionally critical to a California blonde wanting to go to the mall, calling the current pandemic a “super bummer.” While I understand their later intentions with the comment, it is a common thing for social media managers to try and pull a tiny bit of personality into their work. That is something only re-enforced by the person behind the account replying with an earlier tweet similarly playful and “unprofessional.”

Speaking as Phenixx Gaming’s social media manager for Twitter, I understand the idea and desire of being personable. However, the serious case of environments within development studios being either toxic or unproductive is something rather contentious right now. This said, the use of “Afaik” as the opening of the statement, which we corrected to the long-form for our quotation, might be a hint that it was not an official company-wide stance. Yes, it would be nice for there to be a proper statement, but this was never going to be it.