It seems that with Dying Light 2: Stay Human, Techland has replicated the success of the first Dying Light, which saw an insane amount of post-release support for multiple years. With this level of commitment to releasing new content to the game, has the studio thought of making the game a full-on live service title?

This is something we asked Dying Light Franchise Director Tymon Smektała, and what the studio thinks about GaaS (Games as a Service) as part of the studio’s plans.

MP1st: Has the team ever thought about going the full live-service route given how they’re able to cultivate such a dedicated fan base of players? What’s the general stance on that, and what comes to mind for the team when they think of GaaS, and how that fits or doesn’t fit the studio’s core pillars.

Smektała: We’ve settled on a very unique formula with the original Dying Light – premium game with additional GaaS elements – and so far it works and is successful for us, so we don’t intend to change it. But of course we’re closely monitoring all of the most current industry trends, which is needed considering how difficult game development becomes with each subsequent year.

MP1st: When we last spoke, we talked briefly about the ongoing support of the original Dying Light, and how that would sort of be how the team would approach the second game post-launch. It was recently revealed the game is exceeding a million active users monthly. Impressive for something that many wouldn’t consider as a live service, and even more so seeing this success being replicated. In an industry that has had many live services come and go, with so few being successful, how has Techland managed to succeed where so many have failed?

Smektała: I think the key here is our unique relation with our community. When we win, we celebrate together, when we fail our community is supportive and helpful, we treat each other with respect and understanding. We’re very open with our community, giving them space and tools to directly communicate with us. This is our “secret formula”, this is what works for us.

Based on what I’ve seen so far, Smektała has the right mindset when it comes to games in the sense that they’re not thinking of nickel and diming their playerbase, but rather, release content and improvements they’ll appreciate and trust that they’ll stick around…and so far, it’s worked for the them.

In the same interview, Smektała mentioned that crossplay is “still an option” for Dying Light 2.

Stay tuned to our full interview with the studio hitting the site soon.