Dying Light 2 has been delayed multiple times, and with new consoles coming in 2020 many have wondered if the game will ship on next-gen as well as for the currently confirmed PlayStation 4 and Xbox One platforms.
In a 2019 interview with Wccftech, Techland's CTO Pawel Rohleder confirmed PS4 Pro and Xbox One X functionality, while also alluding to the upcoming PS5 and Xbox Series X platforms.
Read More: Dying Light 2 NEWS: Release Date, Trailer, Gameplay, Co-op And Multiplayer, Features And More
Will Dying Light 2 Support Cross-Play?
Could Dying Light 2 be a cross-platform game? At this stage, there are no guarantees on whether it will or won't be.
While it's unlikely to be a cross-generational release, the game could allow functionality between generations post-launch.
"It’s a very interesting topic. Because right now, there’s a huge gap in between the consoles, the current version consoles and the PCs in like five or six years," Rohleder explained.
"And this still every half a year, you have a new generation of graphics boards. And so in general, we want to support the wide variety of systems, including high-end PCs with RTX [ray-tracing] implementations. On the other hand, we’re making the games for the current version as well. Xbox One X and PS4 Pro is somewhere in the middle. So it will be for sure enhanced in some way, but the very high-end PCs will be even more enhanced, right. So we want to give the same experience, but maybe a slightly better visual experience if someone has the hardware with better capabilities, right."
"And this is also one of the biggest challenges that we’re struggling with right now, how to create the game, which looks okay, on this, like a variety of devices. And also thinking about future platforms."
Given that the game was delayed from 2019, and still hasn't released as we hit the halfway point of 2020, there's a good chance that the developers have shifted to getting the game out of the door before looking to next-gen consoles.
That said, with backwards compatibility and Xbox Series X smart delivery, there's always the potential for Dying Light to be playable on your new console as well as your old one.
With the opportunity for co-op multiplayer, there's no real reason for Dying Light 2 not to support cross-play; especially as many popular games are heading in that direction.
The significant delay to its launch could be explained by the fact that they are working to implement cross-play and improve the community experience. Especially if the game is cross-generational, it will prevent friends and other players being separated and split up.
If you think about how much a player base is split between different platforms (Xbox One, PS4 and PC), this will only worsen when you add in the Xbox Series X and PS5.