One of the most exciting game announcements at last year's E3 conference was Deep Silver's Dead Island 2, the highly-anticipated sequel to their first-person zombie adventure. At the time, the expectation was that the game would release sometime this Spring.

However, after hearing nothing from the publisher or developer Yager Development since the conference, many gamers were worried the original release timeline changed. Now, thanks to some information from Eurogamer Czech and Videogamer, it looks like those concerns may be valid. Dead Island 2 is now rumored to be delayed until this fall.

This news isn't actually all that surprising. First of all, there doesn't seem to be enough time left in the season for Deep Silver to fulfill their promise of a beta and PlayStation 4's 30-day exclusivity. More importantly, though, is that, after the success of Techland's Dying Light it makes sense that Deep Silver would allow a little more space between the two FPS zombie games. Gamers are still playing Dying Light, so releasing a similar game too soon may result in lost sales for Dead Island 2.

In fact, Dead Island 2 may even be delayed again until 2016. The lineup for this fall is already quite congested with highly-anticipated games, including The Division, Halo 5, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Star Wars Battlefront, and others. With that in mind, it may actually benefit Deep Silver and Yager Development to push the game back even further.

Plus, with quite a few other games already postponed to next year, we doubt many gamers would complain about another delay for Dead lsland 2. On the contrary, the extra time would allow Yager Development to incorporate features based on Dying Light feedback. Thanks to Techland's success in the genre, Dead Island 2 is poised for a powerful showing, but only if the game can measure up to the bar set by Dying Light.

Either way, we expect to hear more about Dead Island 2 at this year's E3. It's very likely that Deep Silver will take the opportunity to promote their game and show off additional gameplay and trailers. They may even announce the game's expected beta and release dates.

What do you think about the Dead Island 2 delay? Is it the right move for the developer? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Dead Island 2 is now expected to release this fall for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

Source: Eurogamer Czech, Videogamer