Days Gone‘s recent PC port gives us all a chance to revisit one of the PlayStation 4’s most divisive titles, but what are the odds that port eventually leads to the PlayStation Studios team greenlighting Days Gone 2?
If you’re looking for a short answer to that question, it would have to be “incredibly low.” If you need more information than that, then it’s important that we first provide a little more context about Days Gone‘s release and reception and how both contributed to its dwindling sequel prospects.
Days Gone was released in 2019 to a decidedly mixed response. Some praised it for its large open-world and B-movie charms, while others (including our review at the time) argued that the game’s collection of modern gameplay tropes was dragged down by its glitches and design issues. It also didn’t help that Days Gone was released shortly after Marvel’s Spider-Man and God of War: two of the PS4’s best games.
Days Gone‘s mixed reception and production issues cast some doubt on its sequel prospects from the start, but its most adamant fans hoped that the game would get a second chance to really get things right. Unfortunately, those sequel dreams would be interrupted by some emerging realities.
Recently, Days Gone writer/co-director John Garvin suggested that part of the reason why Days Gone may not get a sequel is that not enough gamers bought the original title at full price. His argument was…pretty bad, but as we’ve also pointed out, expectations for Triple-A games are becoming greater and greater each year, and Garvin’s statements at least suggest that someone may have communicated to the game’s development team that Days Gone did not necessarily meet those expectations.
However, the biggest dagger to Days Gone 2‘s chances came in the form of a Bloomberg report regarding a possible PS5 remake of The Last of Us. The report indicated that Days Gone developer Bend Studio tried to pitch a sequel to Sony but that the pitch was shot down. While the report doesn’t list all of the specifics, it was suggested that Days Gone‘s prolonged development and mixed reception were ultimately more impactful than the game’s reportedly solid sales.
More importantly, it’s not entirely clear what developer Bend Studio is up to at the moment. That report suggested that some on the team feared they could be absorbed by Naughty Dog, and the studio certainly seems to be in a bit of a holding pattern. If the PlayStation team was interested in a Days Gone sequel, now would seem like a great time to approve the project. The fact that there seems to be so much hesitation about that idea doesn’t bode well for Days Gone 2‘s prospects.
So, that’s where we’re at. Days Gone 2 isn’t likely to be released or developed in the near future, and each passing year only makes the chances that we’ll get a Days Gone sequel less and less likely. You can never say never, but based on everything we know, it’s highly unlikely we’ll ever get a Days Gone sequel, especially if the PC version is anything but a runaway success.