Techland asks Dying Light 2 fans not to play the game early, please

Dying Light 2 is scheduled to go live in just a few days—February 4, to be precise. But, as sometimes happens, it seems that retail copies have started slipping out early. Developer Techland said on Twitter that it appreciates the enthusiasm, but would really like it if everyone could just hold off playing it until the game is actually released.

"Fellow survivors, we see that some of you got an access to the retail copies of Dying Light 2 before the release date (it’s this Friday, only 3 days left!)," the studio wrote. "We understand you want to start exploring the City ASAP and we couldn’t be happier!"

"That being said, we kindly ask you to wait until Feb 4th as by that time you’ll also get access to all improvements and fixes we’ve implemented within last weeks and will introduce with the day 1 patch. That’s the way to experience Dying Light 2 the way it’s meant to be played."

The plea might work if this was BioShock—would you kindly just play something else until the weekend?—but my suspicion is that Techland's request is not likely to be heeded by most. If somebody hands you the game you've been waiting months (or years) to play a few days before you're supposed to, odds are that you're not going to sit on it just because the developers ask nicely, right?

It's not clear how widespread the issue is or on what platforms, although the images I've seen on Reddit are for console editions—not surprising, really, given that consoles are still far more retail-reliant than PC. As for how it happened, Techland hasn't commented but my guess is that it's an honest mistake. Overworked, underpaid retail employees have a lot to deal with, and speaking from experience I can tell you that it's easier than you might think to miss a "do not sell before" label on a small, plain box—especially if that box is jammed in with a pile of other boxes that you're expected to get on the shelves before your day is done.

But Techland's request that players contain themselves until Friday has prompted some interesting responses: Some players are urging the studio to simply release the game now, but others are asking—reasonably, I think—how reviewers and influencers are expected to present Dying Light 2 "the way it's meant to be played" if they don't have access to the day one patch themselves.

In a statement sent to PC Gamer, Techland explained that the version of Dying Light 2 on retail discs is much older than the one currently being played by reviewers.

"Our hope with yesterday's tweet was to address those few who obtained early copies of the game through retailer errors, in which the game on the physical discs is a two to three month old build lacking the fixes we have provided the media for their reviews," the studio said. "We were asking them to consider waiting until February 4 to begin their journey, when the game will be more polished thanks to day one patches.

"Like almost all modern games, our journey as developers doesn't end when we share copies with reviewers or on launch day. We will support Dying Light 2 with new content for at least five years, and at every step on the road, we will actively listen to the community and work diligently to address any bugs discovered as players experience our most ambitious game to date. In this way, as developers devote themselves to serving the community, a game's "very best" version is always being redefined. Even the version reviewers can play right now is markedly improved over what was first delivered about two weeks ago."

Techland added that any updates to Dying Light 2 released between now and launch day won't have a meaningful impact on performance and systems reflected in reviews. 

"We are extremely confident in the game's quality right now being representative of what players will experience on February 4 and no significant change is expected before launch day," the studio said.