In response to today's PlayStation Showcase, the game director of Days Gone, Jeff Ross, has joined in with the feeling of disappointment by claiming a sequel to the PS4 title could have released last month "if we'd have just stuck to our guns". Of course, Sony Bend is making a new IP now that the platform holder rejected its plans for a Days Gone 2.
Ross' full tweet reads: "I get a little bummed out from these PlayStation Showcase shows because they only remind me we could of had Days Gone 2 out a month ago if we'd have just stuck to our guns."
Had this been the case, it would have given a Days Gone sequel a roughly four-year development cycle, with the original game releasing in April 2019. As such, you'd have to imagine it would be a follow-up built largely on the foundations of Days Gone, but with some key gameplay improvements. For example, Jeff Ross has in the past described Days Gone 2 as the "definitive version" of the game, with better animal AI and the ability to swim.
"I would add more systems," he said in an interview last year. "Systems are very simple. And if they’re simple, they can be elegant and very rich for the player. I knew adding one or two more layers to the systemic elements of it would have been something that we could have wrapped our heads around, it would have led to a ton of richness for the players and a ton of unique open-world moments and responses that we haven’t seen before. Let’s sink our teeth into this and do something even more epic."
A Days Gone 2 released in 2023 would definitely have boosted Sony's plans for the year, with Marvel's Spider-Man 2 and Helldivers 2 currently slated for the next six months. The only first-party release out of the firm so far has been Horizon Call of the Mountain on PSVR2.
[source twitter.com]
Comments 58
This guy....move on already!
Sad, I really enjoyed this game.
I remember even when this got showcased, and there was a lot of negative reaction to it, and me not getting it. To me, it was the most impressive showcase in that show.
Ross’ Days are Gone
@daveofduncan Yeah, I would have happily played a Days Gone sequel, too. But he needs to get over it, I think...
This guy just can't move on.
I'd be down for a Days Gone 2, without Jeff Ross directing. Or involved in any way, shape or form.
Would much rather had this than most of crap they showed today.
If it was that certain you had one horrible pitch that they have shot you down mate. And I think he really burned his own bridges with all the stupid rage twitter posts.
@daveofduncan
I will never understand the love for this game, the gameplay was formulaic at best and the story wasn't even all that interesting.
Would have loved a sequel to what for me was the best game of the PS4 generation. Hordes on PS5 would have been something special, I bet.
I'm seeing lots of people on the Days Gone subreddit who have picked up the game and are absolutely loving it. I think Sony badly miscalculated on this one.
Of course, it would also have given them something to release during what can only be described as a significant lull in major first-party blockbuster output. These first few years of PS5 have been quite disappointing as far as I'm concerned, given there haven't been many great first-party releases, and what there has been hasn't really made best use of the new system because it's hamstrung by needing to cater for last gen; I only got mine in July 2021, but while I love the system, I wouldn't be too bothered at this moment in time if I'd stuck with my PS4 Pro.
Don't think it's very professional to keep dragging this out in public. Days gone was good craic but don't need any more of it personally.
Good lord this guy needs therapy. I have a person on my team at work who just wont let things go..like a dog with a bone..like the cyberpunk haters..
And it still would have been average at best. How is this guy really that hung up on a zombie game?
I wish Days Gone was the main reason for me to buy PS4 pro
I would have bought Days Gone 2 eventually, shame it was denied existence.
@LiamCroft "The only first-party release out of the firm so far has been Horizon Call of the Mountain on PSVR2."
If VR games count, then you should be also listing Story DLC like Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores.
What a tool. This makes it sound like he hates what ever they are working on now which is a very bad sign for Bend.
I don't want The Last Of Us 3, never mind Days Gone 2. We've had plenty of PS zombie games, and too many Sony studio sequels. Give us the new stuff
I loved this game, definitely in my top 10. As others have said the hoards alone were a brilliant feature, nothing else like it in any other game. It's a love story, with twists. One thing I especially like is I never lost sight of the storyline being diverted off all the time which is a huge failing of some games I've played, I'm looking at you horizon fw!
I would have gotten a PS5 for days gone 2 and I still would if somehow the game ever got the go ahead.
The confirmation that there would never be a days gone sequel is one of the reasons I went with the series x over the PS5. Not into superheroes, not into horizon but days gone was soooooo underated and felt like it was aimed at my demographic.
@Tharsman I remember everyone loving the showcase. It was definitely the best showing when it was revealed. Remember the horde of zombies and them chasing you up the sawmill. The negativity only started when it got released and the buggy launch and reviews came in
Maybe he shouldn't have released such a broken game to start. It would have sold way better, everyone was waiting for the patches to be released.
The other guy sitting at the bar: "...uhuh."
Seriously, move on.
You people in the comments do realize the person previously bitching and whining about Days Gone's fate in all those other articles is not this guy, right? That would be John Garvin, the other director for the game.
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I feel sad i will never know how the real story ends... since there were so many cliff hangers
THANK YOU FOR THE SPOILERS ON MY GOOGLE FEED. 😢 I created an account and verified it just to say PLEASE CHANGE THE FEATURED IMAGE!!!
I am halfway through this game, and you just completely ruined the story for me.
I haven't seen him on the bike with his dead wife yet, so thanks for ruining that for me. CHANGE THE PICTURE
There were far too many multiplayer games revealed last night. Imagine how good Helldivers could have been if it had gone single player.
Two of the other multiplayer games had instant fail written all over them. One was a team heist game and the other a Splatoon rip off. Both of them looked truly awful and destined for the scrap heap. Tragic politically correct bargain bin fodder.
There were a few games that were of any interest. The aveum game, FF16, the metal gears and a couple of other action rpgs were about it for me. The Spiderman game also looked good but would be a "wait for it to be on sale" as far as I'm concerned.
As for the hardware reveals you can bet both the handheld console and the earbuds will be in the premium price range as like the utterly pointless VR kit they'll have very limited appeal.
Hardware wise the rumoured new model of PS5 console with optional disc drive attachment would have been of far more interest.
Not a great showing by Sony. Where was the confirmed release date for the Suikoden
remasters? Or Eiyuden Chronicles ?
I must be the ok only one that really enjoyed days gone!
My God these guys are sad. Get over it.
@Martijn87 like almost every game release these days you mean?
I hope this game will happen me and boozer will ride again whoop whoop
Mixed feelings. I'm a fan of Days Gone and it was harshly reviewed, but the studio isn't blameless on day 1 either.
Leave it a few dev cycles and I think the IP will return to a warm welcome in 10 to 15 years. Sometimes it's better that way.
You know, continually burning the bridge between days gone and Sony makes it harder and harder for Sony to ever consider a sequel.
I bet if this guy would have just graciously taken the news they didn’t green light the sequel as a ‘no for now’ instead of taking it like a divorce, days gone 2 would have been a future possibility.
All these callous and unsympathetic folks here telling him to "move on". Jesus!
It feels like he's very proud of this game (rightfully so) and is disappointed that suits and capitalism possibly ruined any future for this game.
And not giving up and fighting for something isn't a bad thing.
I never found Days Gone to be all that special. It was just a fairly uninspired zombie survival / action game with Mad Max type vehicle upgrades. I only played it for roughly four or five hours before I completely lost interest.
@Paranoimia I loved it. I played it about a year or so after release, when all the bugs were ironed out. I'd say it's on the list of my all time favorites. I guess the very rocky start but massive following later wasn't enough for Sony to buy off on another one.
Talk about PTSD... Move on bub!
I mean I would have bought Days Gone 2... Hell, an announcement of Days Gone 2 in yesterday's Sony Showcase would have made the show much more acceptable...
But this guy really needs some counseling to get over it, it seems.
@LoopBak127 Which makes it all the more bizarre that they are apparently looking to make a movie adaptation of it. 🤷♂️
Days gone was an awesome game, I enjoyed playing in to 100%
Would have loved a sequel
@Jasonlaw91 there are plenty of flashbacks of him with his wife and it’s been a long time since I played it but she got on the bike with him the first time they met, I’m pretty sure.
Yep, it should have been out easily since its 4 years later since the first one.
Would have been so great but Sony caused discord at the studio when they forced them to do TLOU remake and then, when key figures walked out, learned from their mistake quickly and passed it back to ND.
Hoefully the studio is happy and making what they want but so much time and energy was wasted on TERRIBLE JIM RYAN AND HERMEN HULST INTERFERENCE.
@Mythologue Then that's your problem. Unfortunately its clear that is what reviewers did too because, if you read them, its very clear they never even made it to the 2nd act, when you start getting better weapons that don't shoot like "scrap" because they aren't LITERALLY classed as "scrap" weapons, like the ones are a the start.
I feel for him, but he needs to move on.
@Toot1st nope lots of us loved it
@andrewsqual That doesn't change the essence of the game, which was deeply uninspired.
How long is this guy going to cry about this. He acts like he created the game of the decade and it got yanked from him. It was an okay game with some decent characters, but maybe one of the worst and least interesting open worlds I've ever played in. I might have even been down for a sequel if there were enough obvious improvements, but my guy here has to let it go. The more he cries about it the less likely people are going to be to want to work with him. He acts like he's the only person who ever got a sequel cancelled. Games are cancelled every day around the world. Most we'll never even hear about.
@andrewsqual No I reviewed it and I played it to the end and it didn't get better. The open world is a snore fest and poorly designed, combat was about as slick as quicksand, the characters were okay but the dialogue was usually pretty bad. It was a mediocre game. I might have been down for a sequel with vast improvements, but it's not like it's anything close to a classic.
Syphon Filter >>>> Days Gone
Dudes just butt hurt after being let go. Maybe don’t put out a game full of terrible bugs, and they wouldn’t have said no to the sequel.
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I really enjoyed days gone, Not because of the story or the characters, but because of the atmosphere. I cannot say I would be interested in a sequel, since I do not see any interesting development this story could have. But, who knows maybe there was a really interesting idea.
Anyway just because there was a plan to release the sequel by now does not mean that the plan would have worked out (in particular given that it took quite a few iterations until days gone was enjoyable, if I understood that correctly, I only played the ps5 version). So, this is just a stupid comment of somebody, who failed to convince the higher ups about the greatness of "his" idea or who failed to follow directions and does not understand that this was not appreciated.
Imagine this Ross guy drunk and getting stuck with him in your ear...!
@KidRyan VR and DLC are not the same. A full VR game is a full game release, DLC is not.
@Jaz007 I never said DLC was a full game release?
I just treat all VR games and DLC as equals, extra game content I dislike spending money on.
(Yet I will if there's story missions in them)
@Paranoimia I agree with you. I think even though the DG wasn't the success they expected, it WAS a new IP. Hoow can you simply discard a new IP completely like that? If you consider that there is nothing worthy of improving, then why was this project greenlit in the first place? I think they could've improved for DG2 and specially considering how SM2 will take advantage of the PS5, DG2 could be an amazing game. Take what was learned from the 1st and grow from there. We could've had a 1st party exclusive in our hands now. If an IP is so easily left to die, it makes me wonder how much they trust each new IP currently being developed.
@KidRyan How is a full game with it’s own story, mechanics, lore, campaigns, etc like DLC? What is extra about a base game, which VR games are? What is DLC for a VR game then even?
@Jaz007 My apologies for my earlier comments, I was clearly wrong. Sorry to have bothered you, hope you have a good week.
Surpised how rude and judgement some of the comments are over someone who is just saying he is sad there wasn't a 2nd game. Not even a news story really but SEO I guess.
@Jasonlaw91 Game is 4 years old. Get a grip whining about spoilers now. Screenshot is from one of his memories before the zombie apocalypse.
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