Dead Island developer files trademark for possible sequel, "Dead World"

Remember that map in outbreak that showed the deadly virus spreading from one small, isolated area to the entire planet? Somewhere, in the Dead Island universe, a scientist’s computer is simulating that exact map, except instead of showing the spread of a disease that kills people, it's simulating the spread of flesh-eating monsters that we'll likely be able to kill in the Dead Island sequel.

No, one hasn't been announced just yet, but come on – the original game had impressive sales despite some launch issues, and the buzz surrounding the new IP is incredible. We'd be willing to bet that the developers at Techland are hard at work on a new iteration of the game, and, odds are, we now know what it's called. The developer has filed a trademark for "Dead World" in the US, proving that they're working on, or at least thinking about working on a new, larger version of their post-apocalyptic series. Techland is being obviously tight-lipped and hasn't confirmed their intentions with the trademark, but it's fairly obvious what it's for.

Though we typically don't care about the legal side of trademark filings, we're interested in seeing how this one turns out. Usually we don't care about that step in the process, but it might be stepping on the toes of Deadworld, a comic book that has been running for over 20 years. While the name is slightly different, it also deals with zombies taking over the world, so we wouldn't be all that surprised if Techland is forced to change the name to something else. This isn't even a Skyrim vs. Scrolls thing, either – we'd sort of understand this one.

Hollander Cooper

Hollander Cooper was the Lead Features Editor of GamesRadar+ between 2011 and 2014. After that lengthy stint managing GR's editorial calendar he moved behind the curtain and into the video game industry itself, working as social media manager for EA and as a communications lead at Riot Games. Hollander is currently stationed at Apple as an organic social lead for the App Store and Apple Arcade.