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Dead Island 2 shifts 1m copies in its first weekend of release

Zombie hoards.

It might have had a bit of a tumultuous development journey - to put it mildly - but Dead Island 2 is off to a flying start, having successfully shifted over 1m copies in its first three days of release.

Dead Island 2 finally launched last Friday, almost nine years after publisher Deep Silver announced it was in development. Since then, it's seen no less than three studios at the helm, but, despite that rocky road to release, its final form - which reached the finish line under the stewardship of Dambuster Studios - has clearly captured the public's imagination.

In its press release announcing Dead Island 2's blast through the 1m sales barrier in just 72 hours, Deep Silver shared a selection of other notable stats. Over the course of those three days since launch, for instance, players have racked up 11m hours of play time, and 28m deaths.

Dead Island 2 spoiler-free review chat.Watch on YouTube

Additionally, 1.1bn zombies have already met their end, 45m of which were sliced in half, with a total of 756m zombie limbs having been detached from their undead owners along the way.

Eurogamer contributor Edwin Evans-Thirlwell called Dead Island 2 a "straightforwardly accomplished zombie action-RPG that doesn't quite make the most of its Californian setting" in his review, noting, "If you've somehow yet to play an undead-themed action-RPG or you have an appropriately on-brand mindless hunger for the subgenre, Dead Island 2 might be worth your while... [It] isn't a bad game, but it does feel superfluous".