Sumo Digital takes control of Dead Island 2

UK studio Sumo Digital will develop Deep Silver's zombie-RPG sequel, Dead Island 2. 

The game was originally being developed by Spec Ops: The Line creator Yager Studios, before the studio was dropped by Deep Silver due to creative differences. 

At the time Yager said it would regroup and focus its efforts on free-to-play spaceship dogfighting game, Dreadnought. Less than a month later, the portion of Yager which had been working on Dead Island 2 filed for insolvency while the rest of the company continued to work on other projects. 

Sumo has experience working on triple-A releases, and has worked on high-profile titles including LittleBigPlanet 3, Disney Infinity, and Microsoft's Crackdown reboot.

"Sumo showed so much understanding of the brand, had creative ideas and an excellent, vision that was aligned with our own," said Dr Klemens Kundratitz, CEO of Deep Silver's parent company, Koch Media, speaking to MCV. "It just made perfect sense for us to move the project to them."

Earlier this week Sumo expanded its operations by bringing in Crytek UK's former MD, Karl Hilton, to head up its new Nottingham studio

According to Sumo CEO, Carl Cavers, the Nottingham office will "explore new opportunities across consoles, PC, mobile, and VR."