Despite the commonalities between Dead Island and Dying Light, the rivalry between the two IPs has historically paled in comparison to the most dominant forefront examples of direct competition in the industry. However, when looking at the two franchises through a more modern lens, it can be argued that this rivalry is currently the most storied and relevant one that still truly exists to this day.
RELATED: 10 Great Games For Fans Of The Walking Dead (That Are Not Part Of The Franchise)
Gaming’s Historic Rivalries
Perhaps the most high-profile and longstanding gaming franchise rivalry was historically present between the Call of Duty and Battlefield IPs. The scope of attention within the genre of first-person shooters is arguably larger than any other video game genre, and this over time has led to a hugely saturated and highly competitive sub-industry in which massively popular franchises were often in direct competition with one another over rapidly releasing installments of games.
For a long time, Battlefield has held its own against the massively influential Call of Duty and its annual releases, with the likes of Bad Company 2, Battlefield 3, and Battlefield 1 providing genuinely compelling unique experiences to the FPS genre that led to serious debate within the industry as to which IP should be crowned as the top franchise.
However, in recent years, this historic and storied rivalry has waned significantly, with the Battlefield franchise coming to a relative silence when compared to the continued growth of CoD. The recent Battlefield 2042 has faced sharply dropping player counts, which is back-dropped against the intense success of the recently released Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone 2.
The Rivalry Between Dead Island and Dying Light
With the reduced profile of the CoD versus Battlefield rivalry, Dead Island and Dying Light may surprisingly stand as the current most high-profile rivalry in gaming. The two franchises provide the most comparable and comprehensive level of open-world zombie survival, especially within their first-person gameplay.
Although zombie games have slightly declined from their massive popularity and frequency within the 2000s, the genre appears to be making something of a cultural comeback in more recent years. With fans beginning to itch for another zombie survival experience, Dying Light 2 recently released to great anticipation in early 2022, with the upcoming Dead Island 2 being set for an April 2023 release window.
Despite being almost a year old, Dying Light 2 is still yet to release its most comprehensive post-launch DLC. The title is aiming for five years of post-launch attention and DLC implementation, including new events and story DLCs, giving a clear indication from Techland as to the intended longevity and competition of the game. The introduction of this extensive post-launch content for Dying Light 2 will come during the anticipated launch of Dead Island 2, as well as the likely post-launch attention that this title will also receive.
With this in mind, and when considering the huge amounts of attention placed on Dead Island 2 thanks to its long development cycle, it is likely that fans of the zombie survival genre will see some serious competition between the upcoming title and Dying Light 2. With this rivalry only being liable to continue throughout each game’s extensive post-launch roadmaps, Dying Light versus Dead Island may now be the forefront rivalry in the entire gaming industry, replacing the discourse and attention that was once placed on the likes of Battlefield versus Call of Duty.
Dead Island 2 launches April 28 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
MORE: Early 2023 Might Be the Most Important Time Period for Dying Light 2
