In the August 2006 interview with game's assistant producer Yutaka Haruki published in the XCN (Xbox Community Network), he stated that the game does not include any form of multiplayer mode, because the team always intended to make it a single player game as they felt that Dead Rising provided a unique experience that would be gone if they added a co-op or any other multiplayer mode.

Later games in the series would receive their own multiplayer modes despite this initial vision.