Why can’t you play Dead Island 2 on Steam?

Fear not, for there is hope

Dead Island 2 was released to a wealth of good reviews and strong sales, crossing one million copies sold in just a few days. Pretty impressive for a sequel that arrived 12 years after the original.

The said, the game’s popularity has many PC players wondering why they can’t play Dead Island 2 on Steam.

Will Dead Island 2 be on Steam?

Dead Island 2 is currently only available on the Epic Games Store on PC. It’s another in a long list of games that have been exclusive to Epic’s store in the last few years.

However, Steam fans shouldn’t lose hope. Epic Games does not own Dead Island 2. So despite a lack of any public announcement on the subject, it’s likely that Dead Island 2 is a timed exclusive on the Epic Games Store.

Unfortunately, the history of timed exclusives on the Epic Games Store means the game will likely stay off Steam for a minimum of one year. That means Steam players shouldn’t expect to play Dead Island 2 until April 2024 at the earliest.

That would follow the trend of a few Deep Silver games from the last few years. Metro Exodus and Shenmue 3 were both exclusive to Epic’s store before coming to Steam a year after release. It stands to reason that Deep Silver will continue to follow the same trend, even if the company can’t say so.

Anyone who wants to play Dead Island 2 on PC before then will have to use Epic’s service.