Rage 2 Is Developed in Some Part by Just Cause Developer Avalanche Studios [Update: It's a Collaboration with Id]

Update: Bethesda has confirmed on Twitter that Id and Avalanche are working together on Rage 2, blaming internal marketing for leaking this bit of info.

Original Story

Rage 2 is officially revealed, and players will be returning to the apocalyptic wasteland. There are some differences between the first Rage and the sequel. The aesthetic and attitude is much more colorful and punk-y, and if Bethesda' official info page is accurate, there might be some development assist from Just Cause 2 developers Avalanche Studios.

As spotted by the eagle eyes over at Resetera, the info page for the game lists Rage 2 as copyright of Bethesda Softworks and "Developed in association with Avalanche Studios." So while id Software might still be taking point on Rage 2, we know for sure that Avalanche is involved in one way or another. Though we don't know at what capacity.

Having multiple developers on a game isn't uncommon. Sometime a second or third studio takes point on a game's multiplayer to help speed up development. Like how Raven might be working on a battle royale mode for Call of Duty: Black Ops 4.

If Avalanche is working on Rage 2, it might be because Bethesda is advertising the game as a "true open world FPS." And if Avalanche's previous outings with Just Cause and Mad Max shows anything, it's that Avalanche knows how to do open world games.

It's still unclear at this point whether Avalanche is the lead developer on Rage 2, but if so the fact the studio is working on a first-person game is a departure. Considering Avalanche has mostly worked on third-person perspective games, not including The Hunter series Avalanche rebooted.

Rage 2 was first leaked by Walmart Canada, something Bethesda started spoofing almost immediately with a series of tweets. Since then, Rage 2 was continuously teased on Twitter with a series of vague social media images.

We'll see a proper gameplay trailer tomorrow, so check back in with us when we have an analysis of the trailer. Rage 2 will also most definitely be at Bethesda's E3 2018 showcase this year.