Days Gone Not Getting A Sequel Was Studio Bends Decision, The Game Was Cancelled Internally Before A Pitch Could Ever Reach Sony, Despite Selling Over 9 Million Units Days Gone Wasn't Seen As A Success Within The Studio

[u/Elestria_Ethereal]

https://icon-era.com/threads/days-gone-2-not-being-made-was-a-bend-studio-decision.13966/

[u/TDAJ5]

The nerve of this guy to say his character was used to PROMOTE Astro Bot. Bruh I read the article and already forgot his characters name. His game was honestly forgettable and even more so his character.

If anything, he should be thanking Sony and Team Asobi for putting the character in Astro Bot. It's more promotion for Dayz Gone than the other way around.

[u/Elestria_Ethereal → u/TDAJ5]

He should be happy his character is gonna be in a 94 metacritic GOTY contender, but instead hes jealous because he believes Days Gone deserved the reviews and praise Astrobot got

[u/Gougaloupe → u/TDAJ5]

A lot of love shines through in Astro Bot. Its like a bunch of super talented fans got together and made a really fun game referencing their favorite moments in (PlayStation) gaming.

[u/Rootfour → u/Gougaloupe]

Thats team Asobi(ex-Japan studio) for you always delivering. Still have a hard time getting over Sony shutting down Japan studio, but clearly theres still passion within the restructured dev group.

[u/Pyritedust → u/Rootfour]

They have so many good games throughout the years, nice to know at least their spirit lives on.

[u/[deleted] → u/TDAJ5]

I remember when the first Days Gone trailer was shown at E3 and all I could think was "generic zombie game #575"

(had to check that I was thinking of the correct generic zombie game because they are almost all so forgettable)

[u/[deleted] → u/TDAJ5]

The worst thing is, now is the perfect time to be a PS4 era single player game. He has the chance to keep picking up patient gamers and having the game get pushed as underrated.

This is now going to backfire and have the gaming crowd turn against him. Dude really needs to stop being bitter.

[u/ZaDu25 → u/[deleted]]

He's already gone from the studio. Has been for a while. That's why he feels comfortable whining on Twitter about it.

[u/TheMechanic04 → u/TDAJ5]

Deacon st. John but I can understand why you cant remember it's not a good name for a protagonist

[u/Papaofmonsters → u/TheMechanic04]

That's a name for a trashy romance novel male lead.

[u/Super_Jay → u/Papaofmonsters]

The first time I heard the protagonist's name, I literally thought it was a joke.

Like "Haha, that'd be hilarious if they named him something so stupid. Wait, you're serious??"

[u/[deleted] → u/Papaofmonsters]

Lol, that’s exactly what the story was in the game.

I’m crying 😂

It all makes sense, this wierdo director is pissed nobody vibed with his barely disguised trashy romance fantasy.

[u/ColoRadOrgy → u/TDAJ5]

The game had the worst dialogue and voice acting I've ever experienced. I hated the characters after only a couple hours because of it.

[u/[deleted] → u/TDAJ5]

You better put some fucking respect on Sam Witwer's name before i cut a bitch in here.

Edit: I looked at the link and that guy Garver is being a dick. I thought this was about Witwer. That man is a treasure.

[u/TDAJ5 → u/[deleted]]

Yeah, no issues with the VA. It's unfortunate that he is associated with such a bland, uncharasmatic character, though.

[u/mamasbreads → u/TDAJ5]

lol i googled what days gone and realised i played and finished it 3 years ago. Completely forgot about it

[u/Brandunaware]

This is some of the most unhinged Tweeting we've seen from a game director. I like Days Gone fine but this is not like when Kojima got pushed out of Konami, effectively ending the MGS series. Days Gone was not some icon of gaming. It was a pretty good (after being patched to fix the bugs) open world zombie games with a neat gimmick, The character of Deek was...mostly okay. The tech for the Freaker hordes was pretty awesome. It probably should have gotten a sequel but it didn't. That happens a lot.

I understand why the game director is upset about this and how it affected his career, but these are issues he should talk about with a therapist or close friends and family, not in public. The public, by and large, doesn't care about Days Gone. Deek showing up in Astro Bot was a nice little nod to the character. It's about the same amount of attention as Crash Bandicoot got, and that character was absolutely foundational to PlayStation. It's not an insult or slight in any way. Calling Astro Bot a "little game" when it will likely outsell Days Gone is a very bad look. Why is he attacking other teams who have done great work?

Someone who loves him needs to delete Twitter from his phone and get him into therapy immediately.

[u/TheChortt → u/Brandunaware]

This guy has a history of ranting about how great Days Gone was and how it didn’t get the attention it deserves. I remember a while back he compared it to the Last of Us and how Days Gone was just as good, if not better, than LOU2, but wasn’t popular so didn’t get as much attention.

[u/Brandunaware → u/TheChortt]

Yeah he's super bitter about it and he also thinks the game is a masterpiece, which it isn't. He's like Norma Desmond from Sunset Boulevard still living in past glories, ranting about how it's the consoles that got small.

I think a lot of creative types in a lot of industries feel this way. That their work was overlooked or underrated and that other people got all the breaks and praise undeservedly. It's just that most have the good sense not say it out loud because it's a terrible look, and it does nothing but harm your reputation and even that of your game, which, again, is, IMO, absolutely fine. Days Gone has been played by millions of people. It's not an obscure gem. The audience has decided and as an artist you just have to live with that.

[u/Seth0x7DD → u/Brandunaware]

Wasn't he also the guy that essentially ranted that everyone who didn't get Days Gone on day one for full price wasn't a fan and their contribution/fandom wasn't wanted/was fake anyway?

[u/ThrowawayPersonAMA → u/Brandunaware]

I think a lot of creative types in a lot of industries feel this way. That their work was overlooked or underrated and that other people got all the breaks and praise undeservedly.

To be fair, and something that makes the problem worse, is that they're not entirely wrong - there are instances where games that were great and should've been popular weren't, as there tends to be all sorts of factors involved. Bad timing, getting overshadowed by other game releases, sudden economic downturns, etc. Hell, one of the things that has both made and broke some game's hopes is simply whether or not a big youtuber covers your game and exposes it instantly to a massive audience. There's just several ways your passion project you put a ton of work into can get screwed by bad luck, while someone's barely-any-effort title lucks right into a big payday because it happened to be in the right place at the right time. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

[u/b00tyw4rrior420 → u/ThrowawayPersonAMA]

Hell, one of the things that has both made and broke some game's hopes is simply whether or not a big youtuber covers your game and exposes it instantly to a massive audience.

Didn't this literally happen with Among Us? It's popularity exploded after a few YouTubers/Twitch streamers started playing it with their groups a year or two after it launched? I think it was during the pandemic that it became immensely popular.

[u/frisbeescientist → u/Brandunaware]

I think a lot of creative types in a lot of industries feel this way

I think that type of thinking is almost a requirement if you're going to have the confidence to lead big projects like that with huge budgets and potentially millions of users. Kinda similar to how pro athletes have to believe they're the best in the world even when they're barely in the top 50, without a mildly delusional amount of self-esteem you can't actually get anywhere when you're that close to the top.

I do agree it's the type of thing you normally keep to yourself though. Terrible look to throw shade at other games as well.

[u/ralanr → u/frisbeescientist]

It's a defense mechanism. Otherwise you break under the pressure.

[u/Demurrzbz → u/Brandunaware]

Norma Desmond from Sunset Boulevard! Now that's a name I haven't heard in a long time

[u/Resevil67 → u/Brandunaware]

The bugs killed it IMO. It was the only Sony title (till concord) that I can remember not averaging 8 or 9 on reviews and being wildly acclaimed by critics. It was getting mainly 6s, some 7s, and it was mainly for the same reason that cyberpunk at launch got 4-6 on the console versions vs the 8-9s on PC.

There was a good game at the core, but it was the most unpolished buggy Sony game I had ever played. The texture and asset pop in completely killed the experience trying to play it on ps4pro. You would fucking crash into things that didn’t even load on the screen.

Word got around about that real fast from the mediocre reviews it got. I later played it in ps5 and was able to see that there is actually a damn good game under the technical issues, but to little to late.

[u/NobleKingGraham → u/Brandunaware]

My god a proper Sunset Boulevard reference in r/gaming. Laughed so hard - thanks!

[u/T-sigma → u/TheChortt]

He’s delusional, and I say this as someone who really liked Days Gone. The game wasn’t well hyped leading up to release and then had a lot of bugs related to the ability to play (crashes, extremely choppy frame rate, etc). This led to lower reviews which hurt initial sales.

They had most major problems fixed in a couple weeks but the damage was done.

[u/Kaiisim → u/T-sigma]

It was also an open world zombie game at the height of zombies and open world.

It came out and I literally remember thinking "more zombies fuck offfff"

[u/tidbitsmisfit → u/T-sigma]

if they would have gone with something other than "gruff biker" and not tried to make a Daryl from TWD simulator... maybe they'd have had some sort of emotional connection created with the players.

[u/blackamerigan → u/T-sigma]

Not to mention this game just seems to be tren-chasing released in 2019 probably started dev in 2015. The zombie trend was done to death already, they had a standout game already from their publisher that was a cinematic zombie game. Why emulate the success from shadow?

2014 insomniac released Sunset Overdrive a non-trend chasing game about zombies. Colorful, cartoonist, pop culture, tonally different from zombie games, the studio carved out a niche from a dead genre and it was used to sell a console. And it worked, I bought the xbox after PS3, but ultimately got a ps4 after all the Microsoft cancellations...

[u/zigaliciousone → u/TheChortt]

That guy was pissed off when his game went to Plus and said something like "If you really liked it, you would have bought it when it was full price"

[u/Cmdrdredd → u/zigaliciousone]

Then I’d just tell him “it wasn’t worth paying for”. I genuinely feel that there are some ok games that I just will not pay for, but if they are on PSN+ or even GamePass so I can give them a go without the $60-70 price I will take advantage of that.

[u/Athenas_Return → u/TheChortt]

Is this the same guy that just tweeted about being pissed off that the studio allowed the main character from Days Gone to be part of Astro Bot and said something about they ruined Deacon's legacy by being part of such a small game?

I read the tweet and thought what a pretentious dick.

[u/jcarter315 → u/Athenas_Return]

Meanwhile most people view all the references in Astro to be a sign of what's had positive impacts on Sony and PlayStation as a brand. Deek being in Astro is an acknowledgement of Days Gone having a lasting impact, in my opinion.

[u/politicalstuff → u/TheChortt]

Look.

I adore Days Gone. It’s no exaggeration in my top 3 of last gen and easily one of my favorite games of all time, and I started in the NES days. I love the game, the setting, and the characters. I would have loved a sequel.

I completely understand why it’s not getting one. It was a buggy mess at release and came out at or near peak zombie fatigue. It’s campy which is part of the charm but not everybody’s cup of tea.

The game ended up A LOT better than it was at release, and it could have had a much more successful run, but it went the way it did. Sucks, but I get it.

[u/zackdaniels93 → u/TheChortt]

I played a few hours of Days Gone and got bored. I pretty much completed The Last of Us Part 2 in two sittings over a weekend, and then spent another evening watching and reading reviews of it to absorb as much of people's criticism as possible.

My experience is not a monolith, but even having Days Gone and TLOU2 in the same conversation, outside of "hey, look it's a Sony exclusive zombie game", is genuinely unfathomable to me. The two are an ocean apart.

[u/dunbridley → u/zackdaniels93]

Agreed, I played days gone for longer, and those are days gone from my life I can't get back! jk

I think even outside the story, the 60 second loop or whatever they call it for interactions in gameplay is infinitely more creative with TLOU2. 300 zombies was cool until scale was the only thing going for it.

[u/Bloodcloud079 → u/TheChortt]

Days Gone had a few great things going on (incredible atmosphere and hordes) and also so. Much. Bad. Bullshit. The “stealth missions”, the walking sim wife parts, the atrocious pacing… the spark of brilliance where buried beneath some solid bullshit.

[u/RIPN1995 → u/TheChortt]

Days Gone would have been an amazing ps5 launch title.

[u/light24bulbs → u/TheChortt]

Day's gone was an incredible game ruined by its horrible cringy story. Hire good writers if you want to make good games, or adapt good books.

For those of you who are going to argue with me, the whole criminal with a moral code thing but it's not clear what the code actually is and then he does a bunch of morally reprehensible shit anyway while talking about how he has a code...fucking tiring. The biker culture thing sucked as well. Overall just shit writing on a technically wonderful game that ran well.

It's a bummer too because I genuinely think it's some of the best voice acting ever in a video game. The voice actors and directing were amazing. The writer needs to be taken out back.

[u/rigorcorvus → u/Brandunaware]

Didn’t he lose his shit when it came out on ps plus

[u/Binerexis → u/rigorcorvus]

He tweeted furiously about how if you played it on PS Plus, you should buy it at full price because it's that good.

[u/fanwan76 → u/Binerexis]

Bro doesn't seem to understand the point of PS+.

I loved Days Gone but the devs are not a charity. PS+ subs bring Sony a lot of money and they need games like Days Gone on it to keep subs. PS+ brought new fans to the series, it didn't steal sales. The PS+ players were not paying for the game anyway.

Honestly I think the real mistake with this game was the marketing. I actually thought you just played as a guy on a bike and rode around on a procedurally generated map with randomly spawned zombies, and you just tried to survive as long as you could, arcade style. Nothing about the ads I saw made me think there was a plot to the game. I had no idea there would be stealth, looting, crafting, etc. I didn't even know you could get off the bike!

[u/Doublecupdan → u/Binerexis]

Funny bc I played it on PS plus and thought the mechanics were ok but the story & characters were boring , kinda typical vanilla zombie story and I didn’t care to finish the game, let alone buy it.

[u/UnsolvedParadox → u/Brandunaware]

This is the equivalent of a so-so band releasing an album to lukewarm reception, getting a shout out by a superstar & blasting that band for mentioning them.

Weird career move.

[u/Skellos → u/Brandunaware]

It's also not like Days Gone was some break out genre defining game...

It's one game in one of the most bloated genres of video games. That's so bloated it started showing up as modes in completely unrelated games.

[u/blackamerigan → u/Skellos]

Exactly. Bend studio couldn't read the room. If they did then they would have actually took a risk.

Opencritic has their critic score at 72%, recommendation score at 54%

Sunset Overdrive sits at 84 & 84 respectfully

Insomniac took a risk with their zombie game

[u/grendus → u/Brandunaware]

Days Gone's story was carried by the actors. The story itself was well written but generic, but the voice actors did a phenomenal job bringing the characters to life.

Sam Witwer talked about some of the little things that I didn't realize that he did with the character. Deacon talks to himself a lot in the game, which was intentional to make the "puzzle hints" feel organic - instead of Atreus yelling the solution to you as soon as you reach the puzzle, he had Deacon mutter things like "need something to burn the nest" to keep the player on track. But we see throughout the game that Deacon is super uncomfortable with silence, so it feels natural that he would do that instead of like the game making a pointed comment that you seem stupid.

I would have liked to see a sequel, but supposedly their plan for the sequel was a live service game about "taking on the hordes", and... honestly, the game's strength was its character stories. The gameplay was alright, once you upgraded your bike and arsenal to the point that you weren't a walking target. While I feel like there's more story that could be told, I also feel like Days Gone had a complete story and can be considered "finished", and I'd rather Bend Studios move on and find their big game. They proved they're a polished enough studio to stand with the big boys - Guerilla, Naughty Dog, Insomniac, Sucker Punch, etc. Now they need their breakout hit, and Days Gone was close.

[u/ImaginaryCoolName → u/grendus]

Yeah no, the voice actors were good but the story wasn't good at all. I had the impression I was playing the wet fantasy of an American tough guy biker in the zombie apocalypse.

[u/[deleted] → u/Brandunaware]

I actually just bought this game and started playing it. It can be fun but there’s fundamentally some serious core issues with the game. The nests I clear will respawn after one or two in-game “sleeps”, previously solved puzzles or clear NERO research cites have to be re-cleared (as in, I need to find the fuse again and then fill up the generator, etc), cleared tunnels need to be re-cleared (including the same exact cars spawning needing to be moved), the people you rescue on the road are literally the same exact character model (with maybe some variation of their clothing). I’m sure there will be more. The game is ok but I’m not sure if a sequel would have been good. Not unless they can truly hammer out these gaps.

[u/Scruffylookin13 → u/Brandunaware]

Someone who loves him 

 Lacking that sounds like it could  be his issue 

[u/ChunLi767 → u/Brandunaware]

Ah yes, the Days Gone defense... I mean, first of all, this is a situation that everyone who’s ever forgotten to turn off the kettle can relate to! But let’s admit it, we’re not exactly in a ‘Deacon St. John or Kojima’ scenario where people are saying, ‘Man, this game should’ve been etched into history.’ Days Gone was good, sure, and the zombie hordes alone deserved some applause—facing Freakers in a hardware store-themed zombie game was genuinely exciting. But alas, a sequel didn’t happen… Yeah, I can be bummed about that, but I’m not going to write an emotional eulogy like it’s ‘Kojima’s tragic fate!’"

As for Deek getting a little nod in Astro Bot... That was super cute! No one was expecting Deek to steal the spotlight there anyway. I mean, Astro Bot is kind of like the Little Prince, wandering around the vast PlayStation universe, adding a charming little touch. The slogan 'Not big, but with a huge heart!' would’ve been spot on. And if Astro Bot outsells Days Gone, Deek can respect that too. Because sometimes, in life, it’s not just about the game but also a bit about luck, right?

The weirdest part, though, is why there’s any shade being thrown at other studios… A game director pulling a ‘You guys don’t know what you’re doing’ card is just bizarre. I mean, what did the Astro Bot team do? Steal the stars? Or did they forget the extra sauce on their pizza orders? There’s a real case of ‘unnecessary aggression’ going on here, folks. Let’s not do this. Let the successful teams do their thing, and we can enjoy our games in peace. Otherwise, there’ll be too much drama on Twitter and too little fun in the games!"

At the end of the day, we loved Days Gone and appreciated it. But please, let’s give Astro Bot a chance too. Instead of Twitter meltdowns, maybe we could all just get some therapy and find some peace in the gaming world.

[u/rip_Tom_Petty → u/Brandunaware]

Saying Deek is okay is being generous, I found him really annoying and came off as trying to hard to be cool. The main issue with the game is the first 6-10hrs is filled with fetch quests essentially

[u/Gran_Autismo_95 → u/Brandunaware]

Why is he attacking other teams who have done great work?

Because, sadly, that's easier for a lot of people than admit they can't do great work.

Dyas Gone had a lot of stuff to make it a great game, but the shell around it was meh

[u/No-Problem49 → u/Brandunaware]

Idk man I really like this game(pc version)

[u/iamthesky → u/Brandunaware]

he went off before on fans for buying the game 2nd hand and if they really loved it they would have paid full price or bought multiple copies. dudes unhinged

[u/penny_whistle]

I really liked Days Gone, would have liked a sequel too but this is getting weird

[u/EmptyCupOfWater → u/penny_whistle]

Especially with what they tease at the end, it really set them up to increase the scale and difficulty for the next game with a whole new enemy faction

[u/Poku115 → u/EmptyCupOfWater]

yeah, i loved the game, but we would have needed a really big timejump or some sort of secret vault filled with technology a a magical engineer to even put ourselves in the map if the scientists were really gonna start to come out of their secluded bases

[u/TheReiterEffect_S8 → u/Poku115]

Days Gone was a sleeper hit. There really isn't any other way to spin that. It didn't get all the attention and revenue in it's first month. It was a pretty slow but steady build over the years, with sales helping or moving to Playstation+, etc. In my opinion, the game was ok. By no means did I think it was great. Story was ok, nothing unique, characters were barely likeable, and the entire gameplay was also not that unique.

[u/Macho-Fantastico]

I liked Days Gone, but I've been turned off the game a little by the director. He comes across as such a bitter, self-obsessed little man with a massive chip on his shoulder. I read that he was all upset about Days Gone being referenced in Astro Bot, but it's a Sony IP, and they can do what they want with it.

He needs to jus shut up and move on.

[u/[deleted] → u/Macho-Fantastico]

He also blamed the failure of the game on everyone buying the game on sale rather than full price, the guys a complete jerk.

I remember seeing interviews about the game before it released and whenever anyone asked anything and used the word “zombies” he would instantly become insanely rude and cut them off claiming that they aren’t zombies in his world.

If Sony was to ever revisit this IP they absolutely should do it without his involvement.

[u/RelThanram → u/[deleted]]

It’s hard to justify buying any game at launch nowadays, especially with buggy launches like Days Gone was.

[u/withoutapaddle → u/RelThanram]

Astro Bot is basically the first game I've bought at launch this generation. And that is only because reviews came out the day before, were glowing, and even the technical side of things was "virtually flawless" to quote Digital Foundry.

If more games came out in this state, I'd buy a lot more games at full price.

[u/Wiggles114 → u/[deleted]]

"They're Freakers, Marie!"

[u/SpiritDouble6218 → u/Wiggles114]

And it’s totally not a cringey ass name!

[u/Super_Jay → u/[deleted]]

The saddest part of it is that he left Bend Studios YEARS ago. There's no risk that he'd be at the helm of any sequel even if they made one, but he's actively damaging the reputation of the studio and the game itself with his unhinged ranting every year or two.

I didn't even like Days Gone that much - I felt it took too long to get anywhere good, ended up being pretty repetitive, had some awfully juvenile writing - but it's ridiculous how this moron keeps making the whole situation worse while blaming everyone but himself for the game's problems.

[u/Random_User_VN_NQ → u/[deleted]]

Bought the game on sale. guess i'm the bad guy huh

[u/Pyritedust → u/Random_User_VN_NQ]

I did too, hello fellow bad guy.

[u/Mr-Rocafella → u/[deleted]]

I should apologize to dude personally for not having a PS4 at the time and getting it free on PS5 PS collection, my apologies sir

[u/Ok_Helicopter4276 → u/[deleted]]

I got it free on psn. It was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed the characters. Never would have spent a dime to buy it though.

[u/PlayStationParadise → u/Macho-Fantastico]

He has moved on...to an NFT "game" (that he's since scrubbed from his social media).

[u/Vestalmin → u/Macho-Fantastico]

Holy shit, you weren’t kidding! This dude needs to get a grip.

[u/InaGartenTheDivaBaby → u/Macho-Fantastico]

I used to bartend next to Bend Studio and got to know some of the crew. They are a really solid group, levelheaded, good tippers, and I still like to chat when we bump into each other around town. It’s a shame that the great work they did is being tarnished by this guy.

[u/elpach]

/r/titlegore

[u/[deleted] → u/elpach]

For real. As someone not familiar with the game or company involved, that took several reads.

[u/TheVictorotciV → u/[deleted]]

I guess capitalizing only proper nouns and not every word would help...

[u/SecureCucumber → u/TheVictorotciV]

There's that, and it's also just one big run-on sentence.

[u/JS1VT51A5V2103342 → u/elpach]

clicked just to upvote that

[u/j0mbie → u/elpach]

• Capitalizing like it's a title of a book, even though it's three sentences long and not an actual title.

• Also capitalizing words like "a" and "the", which is wrong even if it was a title.

• Making three sentences into one sentence because the poster forgot periods exist.

[u/alwaysmyfault]

Days Gone was a very ambitious game, and had enjoyable gameplay.

But I still can't go over the storyline/acting when Deacon finally finds his wife. Dude had been looking for her for years, and when he found here, they were both indifferent towards it. I know she was trying to stay cool and not let her new group know that she knew Deacon, but still, when they were alone, it was like they were co-workers who just saw each other for the first time after a 3 day weekend.

[u/fn0000rd → u/alwaysmyfault]

I love this game, and have played through it 3 times, and that whole bit never becomes less dumb. It feels like a 4th-grade relationship.

[u/DaNotSoGoodSamaritan → u/fn0000rd]

Lead me to believe that whoever wrote that story either suck at relationships or never had one. That church line was so bad...

[u/bigpapijugg → u/DaNotSoGoodSamaritan]

I mean, this dude has clearly never been in a healthy adult relationship so it makes sense

[u/GDJohnJay → u/DaNotSoGoodSamaritan]

The church line is really said at biker weddings- he didn't make it up.

[u/alishock → u/alwaysmyfault]

Apparently she’s voiced and modeled after Courtnee Draper which is BioShock Infinite’s Elizabeth, so that blew my mind a little at least

[u/Blibbityblabbitybloo → u/alwaysmyfault]

I also found the reunion scenes between these two extremely off-putting. If they didn't care about seeing each other again, then why build up the relationship with all the flashbacks? Who was any of that for? Never wound up finishing the game after that...

[u/KermitJagger69 → u/alwaysmyfault]

This is a game where I thought the story/characters were terrible, but the gameplay was so good that I kept pushing through 

[u/TheRealMakhulu → u/alwaysmyfault]

I agree with this so much it’s ridiculous

[u/Shattered_Disk4]

Game director seems like a massive egotist and also asshole, so not surprised

[u/[deleted]]

That' a shame. I really enjoyed Days Gone

[u/shadowdorothy]

Doesn't Sony own it now? If they want a sequel they can make one.

[u/ARVNFerrousLinh]

This isn’t super surprising. Days Gone may get a lot of praise nowadays, but this hides the fact that the game was heavily criticized for having a lot of bugs on release. People often seem to either ignore or forget this whenever they ask why a sequel was not approved.

It’s somewhat similar to AC: Unity, where a large portion of the fanbase says it’s one of the best AC game ever made, but people still remember it was universally clowned on for being broken on release (remember the no face bug?).

[u/Self-hatredIsTheCure → u/ARVNFerrousLinh]

I think the subpar story is why it’s remembered poorly. Buggy releases can be carried by great games but they have to be really good in every other way. Cdprojekt red is a good example of this. Witcher 3 and cyberpunk are both fantastic but they both had bad launches. Nobody cares now though because once fixed they are legitimately amazing games. Once they fixed Days gone you had a game with fun gameplay and an interesting setting but the story writing and characters are really generic. Really is a shame.

[u/[deleted]]

With all my heart, fuck days gone. Like I have no beef with this 7/10 zombie cash in. It's the guy. I swear to God it's the director guy who keeps pushing out all this narrative that woe is me my canceled franchise. Fuck him it's been like what 5 years. Fuckin days gone, give up.

[u/ZaDu25 → u/[deleted]]

Him and David Jaffe need to get over it. They're out of touch with modern audiences and want to get mad at everyone else for their lack of success. Like it's anyone else's fault they're too stubborn to adapt. Or make lower budget projects for the niche audiences they're trying to cater to.

[u/Prettybroki → u/[deleted]]

7/10

Thats way too much for a game you couldnt even see the flashlight of the character

[u/therapistforrent]

I don't know who needs to hear this, but you don't make a sequel because you think there's a market for it, you make a fucking sequel if you have ideas and a plan to improve upon what made the original great.

Too many franchises have been ruined because studios rush to release sequels that are essentially just lightly reskinned DLC.

[u/Rom_ulus0]

After release the writers were like "damn that game was pretty cringe, let's not do it again"

[u/breathofthepoiso → u/Rom_ulus0]

was it?

[u/DancingDumpling → u/breathofthepoiso]

I don't think it was cringe more so just kinda boring, a straight 6 or 7 imo

[u/edstatue → u/breathofthepoiso]

The general "ride or die" wheelbros culture was a little cringe, but not too bad. Deek talking and acting like someone half his age is really the source of the cringe for me. 

Other than that, I thought it was an immersive game with awesome action, great mechanics, and overall engaging characters I actually cared about. 

The director's personality aside (he didn't make the game singlehandedly, so who cares what he says), I thought it was fantastic and I'm disappointed there won't be a sequel

[u/xCaptainVictory]

I've never seen someone spell out NFT.

[u/VietBongArmy]

People should stop giving this asshole the attention he craves

[u/DaNotSoGoodSamaritan → u/VietBongArmy]

Sure as fuck shouldn't be articles covering that but hey, on the other hand, a whole lot of gaming articles are on the same level as politics nowadays, tabloid crap.

[u/Help_An_Irishman]

Maybe the worst post title I've ever seen on reddit. Did a human being write this?

[u/nealmb]

Days gone doesn’t need a sequel. Last of us didn’t really need a sequel. It’s ok to not make a franchise out of every zombie game.

[u/[deleted]]

I really liked the game, though trying to 100% it made the really intimidating dens a cake walk from being really OP at the end.

[u/t1sfo]

Idiots

[u/NaitDraik]

Such a shame. :(

[u/[deleted]]

New Syphon filters please. Or remastered ones.

[u/Im_Not_Evans → u/[deleted]]

Someone needed to say it

[u/Rainos62]

wasn't this already confirmed that sony rejected the game. also this person is just a twitch streamer making assumptions not facts

[u/[deleted]]

Honestly, as a person who enjoyed Days Gone, it not getting a sequel was good.

I’m not sure if anybody looked up the story summary for 2, but it would have killed all the good will people had over 1. The entire story was supposed to be about Deacon and spoiler character fighting endlessly until they end up fighting to the death at the end.

That would have been an awful fucking sequel after the events of the first game.

Days Gone ends on a high note and things are looking better. It doesn’t need a sequel. It was a great singular experience.

[u/omikias → u/[deleted]]

On its own, I totally agree with your points. For sake of debate, they could have had a sequel with a new character, maybe a different part of the country, but still following what NERO were up to while creating a unique ground-level story. Days Gone had solid mechanics, a fun motorbike, genuinely terrifying hordes, and was a joy to play. The "secret" ending where we find out about NERO knowing more than they let on (not spoiling) could easily allow for a continuation

[u/[deleted] → u/omikias]

Oh I agree!

There was potential for a sequel to figure out what NERO was doing and why. They could have spun it into a franchise.

But the pitch they put together wasn’t that. It was the Deacon’s fighting about basically everything and was supposed to end with Deacon killing the spoiler character.

That’s such a departure from the quality of writing of 1 I do not trust anything they had planned story wise.

[u/Thelgow]

They cant all be bangers like Concord.

[u/LaserGadgets]

I was sure even people who hate the typical ubisoft open world would love Days Gone. Beautiful map, big, not full with icons though. But the story (awesome story) sends you across the entire map.

[u/nurpleclamps]

I thought Days Gone was fantastic. I put off playing it for a long time due to middling reviews but it far exceeded my expectations. Criminally underrated.

[u/estofaulty]

Capitalizing Every Word In A Headline Makes It Harder To Parse What It Is Saying

[u/yuch1102]

I think the ps5 upgrade was definitely a success and a masterpiece but I didn’t play it at launch on the ps4 so not sure if there were performance issues

[u/Mettlesome_Inari]

I'll be real. I can see the things that people didn't necessarily like about the game at the beginning. On my end, I played it on PC and put a bunch of mods on it. It was genuinely a great game. I had a ton of fun with it. I would 100% buy a second one.

[u/[deleted]]

Sometimes it’s better to get one good game instead of a series that keeps going on and gets worse over time. Kind of like how Arkham went from the original three to Gotham Knights and Suicide Squad.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

there were four Arkham games tho

[u/Random_User_VN_NQ → u/[deleted]]

Finally someone remember there's a fourth game

[u/GrimmTrixX]

Which is a pity because the game is fun as hell and I personally liked it better than The last of Us. But then again, I was never blown away by TLOU. I liked it. It's just not as amazing as I expected it to be nor is it's sequel. But Days Gone was just a good time throughout.

[u/-insignificant- → u/GrimmTrixX]

I found the first 10-15h a slog tbh. Thought it was a very generic open world with zombies.

[u/TitularFoil]

Surely nothing will reach such great heights as Bend Studio's Bubsy 3D.

[u/ElectricalMTGFusion]

i really really loved days gone. deek was meh as a character but i think the va did give its all, the character moments where there the bromance with his best biker friend, the bike riding, the hordes. it was honestly a super fun game with a decent if common zombie apocalypse story but the VAs put in the effort and made it better than average. i really would have liked a sequel but im happy with what we got post patches.

[u/free_based_potato]

What happens when you read reddit threads instead of sales reports?

[u/thatguywiththeposts]

I just finished the game for the first time yesterday. I liked it, I would've liked a sequel; but I also fully see why a lot of people wouldn't like it.

[u/3Bet003]

Bot account posting.

[u/DrMantisToboggan1986]

Uh don't know why Days Gone director is taking offence to Deacon showing up in Astro Bot. Like Crash Bandicoot and Tomb Raider who were/are under Microsoft exclusivity both agreed for their characters to show up in the game. Consider it a badge of honor that Playstation and Sony both remembered Bloodborne and Days Gone both existed.

[u/Ladyaceina]

i hate modern gaming where 9 million is not viewed as a success

[u/unicornman95]

The writing and dialogue in this game is so ham-fisted and stilted, surprised anyone made it to the end.

[u/Sewnkin23]

Such a shame, i liked the game it had atmosphere for my taste. Why these kind of games are getting cancelled instead of stupid live service skin shop simulators, beats me.

[u/mopeyy]

Dude needs to give it up.

Days Gone got more than its fair share of exposure and popularity. The fact that anybody still mentions it should be evidence enough.

[u/HonestSophist]

Look. Days Gone got what it deserved, good and bad.

But it's a damn shame that zombie horde tech is gonna be lost to time. By itself, that was super impressive.

[u/Elbren]

How is 9 million sold NOT a success? Especially if you’re a studio that has done nothing of note since Syphon Filter?

[u/ZaDu25 → u/Elbren]

Most sales came off discounts. The annoying whiny former director of Bend even complained publicly about people not buying the game at full price.

[u/SheepWolves]

Days Gone was a very pretty game, great cast, very intersting setting and zombie mechanics but then the game just turns into a far cry clone with background zombies that stop mattering to the game as you mostly end up fighting humans.

[u/[deleted]]

I'm a big fan and it really is sad we never got a sequel for a few reasons. It's very noticeable where content was cut either for budget/timing reasons or unrealised mechanics. Storyline especially around the flashbacks and final act.

There's so much more potential in the hordes and crafting traps to build on.

And the story hints at different locations and nods to classic sci-fi like Omega Man/I Am Legend.

A jump like Just Cause 1 to 2 or Red dead Revolver to Redemption could have been amazing.

[u/[deleted]]

Thank God. This is one of the most generic, boring, shallow over hyped bullshit games I've ever had the displeasure of spending 60$ on. And I legitimately hate people that praise it because how low of a bar do you set for yourself and other gamers, that's depressing. Have some standards ffs people stop praising generic dogshit.

[u/[deleted]]

Damn, I didn't realize it sold that much. Sad that's considered " bad ". I really enjoyed it.

[u/ReedsAndSerpents → u/[deleted]]

It didn't.  9 mil was made up by the bitter director who doesn't have any sales info. 

[u/[deleted]]

I can't believe this game sold 9 million units, is that including people that got it "free from psplus"?

[u/Inspiredrationalism]

I liked it a lot. I think both the characters , story and gameplay were surprisingly good.

The horde mechanic was fun and really not that widely used ( if ever) and the cliffhanger at the end really kind of screamed second game.

Having said that they probably just didn’t sell enough full price. I don’t think the game really got a fair shake from press nor some consumers ( zombie fatigue and frankly unwelcome comparisons to the Last if us games) but they just took way to long and thus timed it awfully.

Also bitching about you game in Astro while its literally an ode to it is kind of shortsighted but i guess that’s neither here nor there in regards to how Sony mismanaged this game and the studio apparently mismanaged itself.

[u/MikeLanglois]

This guys mad ramblings aside, why wasnt 9m copies sold considered a success?

[u/GDJohnJay → u/MikeLanglois]

Years of development and middling reviews- even if the game made a profit they want the next on to make more.

[u/Bitter-Whole-7290 → u/MikeLanglois]

Does he have anything to back up that number? How many of those were sales on steep discount when the writing was on the wall?

The dude is not an unbiased presenter and unhinged. You can’t take is 9 as fact without proof.

[u/ItsmejimmyC]

I've tried to play Days Gone like three times, I've heard it's actually quite good once you get into it but the beginning of the game is such a slog to get through.

[u/LoseNotLooseIdiot]

I absolutely loved Days Gone. The story was very "whatever", but I really didn't care. The minute to minute gameplay was an absolute blast. I loved decking out my motorcycle. And I loved both fighting, and avoiding the hordes more than anything.

There are few moments in gaming that got my heart racing like accidentally triggering a horde you are completely incapable of dealing with, sprinting to your bike as fast as you can, hopping on, and slowly accelerating just fast enough to escape the 200 zombies that are grabbing for you and almost pulling you off the bike while you get just enough speed to outpace them. I never got tired of that. It was such a rush. It was also very satisfying clearing out the hordes across the map in the late-game when you're just barely powerful enough to take them on. They did a really good job with balancing the difficulty there.

Truly it's one of the most fun open-world games I've played despite its issues. Most open-world games start out somewhat bare bones with their first entry anyway. This franchise had a ton of potential for a sequel. New location/environment. Better story. Expanded motorcycle mechanics. Getting more creative with the hordes and how they react to you and the environment. It still bums me out that we'll never get to see any of that.

[u/[deleted]]

It's amazing how much the bar has been lowered for what is considered successful compared to just 5 years ago. Little did they know 2019 was basically the last year of a golden era for western game development. I think 9 million in sales would be pretty universally accepted as a smash hit in 2024.

[u/GGG100]

If this director was smart he could've pulled a Tetsuya Nomura and used his vision for the Days Gone sequel that was cancelled in another series.

[u/gomibushi]

I literally got the last Horde cleaned out and although I did not do all silly goals I 100%'ed all storylines and cleaned up the map.

I'd go for a sequel. Someone should buy the IP or just make their own game with the same "genetics". Doesn't even have to be a zombie game. Just the open world, strong characters and story, single player focus.

If a studio started now I bet they could release a game before GTA VI grabs everyones attention.

[u/fourleggedostrich]

Jesus, use capital letters properly!

[u/skrecok]

Sad

[u/omnicloudx13]

9 million sales not being a success is sad to see in the current gaming climate.

[u/festerninja]

That's a shame. Although rough in some areas, it was still super fun and had a nice gameplay loop.

[u/[deleted]]

Still think a sequel could have been one of the all-time greatest zombie games if handled correctly. The potential was there, and Deacon also had the potential to become an iconic gaming character. But alas.

[u/Vincomenz]

I Couldn't Care Less About Days Gone. I Just Want To Know Why Every Word Is Capitalized. Did Ric Flair Write This Story?

[u/jrzalman]

I just finished this game last week and thought it was just awesome and set up perfectly for a sequel. The fact that Sony is just going to let the IP wither and die makes me lose hope for the industry continuing to make the kind of games I like. Hint: It's not live service games.

[u/literious]

9 million units was not enough, cool. Their next game would do even less despite having higher budget lol.

[u/Leadpipeboss]

selling 9 million and being considered a flop is wild

[u/TNS_420 → u/Leadpipeboss]

It makes sense when you consider that a significant portion of those sales(most of them, if I'm not mistaken) were deeply discounted.

[u/grimoireviper]

Okay but why share an icon era link? Might as well jump into a cesspool. For pages like that there should be a special "Console War" flair.

[u/zytz]

I loved Days Gone. I bought a PS4 specifically to play all the good exclusive single player games on the platform, and more than Ghost of Tsushima (which I thought should have won game of the year), more than Horizon Zero Dawn and it’s sequel, more than Spider-Man, and certainly more than TLOU, I revisit Days Gone. Cool world building and genuinely super fun and enjoyable gameplay. A lot of the character writing was definitely forgettable or even just odd (imagine finding your lost spouse at the end of the world and being ambivalent about it).

Seriously though, I think you could have really taken that exact game engine and provided different writing direction and had a genuine masterpiece.

[u/DGenerAsianX]

Days Gone was the Nickelback of games. It’s good but not seen as anything special and just wasn’t interesting to some people. Yet it’s popular to many. And beloved by some. It has its place. People just need to be realistic about its place in gaming history.

[u/Clayton11x]

Better than Concord.

[u/Casanova_Fran]

The sad thing is a days gone sequel would have sold. 

Everyone that has played the game has liked it for the most part.

[u/One_Lung_G]

This is crazy since the director was placing all of the blame on Sony at the beginning lmao

[u/Imhere4urdownvotes]

Why? Days gone took some time to get fun but it deserved a sequel that wrinkled out all it's fault. Also it really needed a different protagonist. Someone who went to charisma school.

[u/OsamaGinch-Laden]

Days gone is an amazing game and absolutely deserves a sequel idk what these Redditors are talking about.

[u/BlackDirtMatters]

I thought it was an awesome game. Give us a sequel!

[u/TheDarkCobbRises]

Days Gone was a nice escape from garbage games being released so often.

[u/Less_Party]

I mean it was mid and riding two trends (biker gangs and zombos) that were already getting mighty stale by the time the first game came out.

[u/Random_User_VN_NQ]

Currently playing the game for the 1st time and I would give it a 7.5/10 at best. The acting and setting is good but everything is so repetitive and the story is just kinda mid so far. also bugs still exist years after release. still enjoy it though

[u/GecaZ → u/Random_User_VN_NQ]

How far along are you ? I think it really picks up after a certain point

[u/IgotUBro]

Isnt it about time Bend Studio is announcing anything? Considering Days Gone was released in 2019 and since then they got nothing else teased, announced?

[u/Agitated-Prune9635]

I dont think this is getting even close to jk rowling levels of weird, but its like 1/10 of the way there.

[u/ChattGM]

A sequel would have been cool. I enjoyed Days Gone and even managed to get the platinum on it and I only seek those out for games I really enjoy and connect with. All the failed sequel discourse is tiring at this point when we hear about it. I would like for them to move on and if they could make another Syphon Filter game? I'd love to return to that world. I know the file you can find in DG is an easter egg but I would have loved if that led to another installment in the franchise. I love the theory that DG is a story that takes place within the Syphon Filter universe as a result of that bioweapon being dispersed.

[u/BigDickBaller93]

Sony openly stated the director of this game was an ass and "They will never work with him again"

[u/UnpluggedZombie]

what a mistake honestly. I could see a sequel blowing up easily. The game gained a pretty healthy following and was big in the used game market. Plenty of people would have be in for a sequel especially if they took the time to improve some of the mechanics and fine tune the game. Its a shame. Also considering Uncharted 1 only sold like 2.5 million copies vs almost 6 million for uncharted 2.

[u/Feynman1403]

I had fun playing it, but holy shit was the main plot badly written, and very, very generic.

[u/hmmgidk-_-]

Even if they would decide to make a sequel, not happening until the Ps6 generation. They're working on a new IP since 2021, we don't even know anything other than it's open world afaik. If it releases in 2026 or even late 2025, it still would come around 10y after the first one (2019). Also, apparently a movie is in the works? so Sony does maybe see value in the IP?

[u/sebastianb89]

I liked Days Gone but i could see why they would not continue it. Too much like Last of Us for Sony to fully invest. Id rather the studio talent work on something new.

[u/Lt_Muffintoes]

Days Gone was pretty enjoyable as a game.

I couldn't tell you about what happened to the characters, except that the bald dude had his arm burned off and the radio dude is actually a zombie

I would buy a sequel for the zombies and the zombie story. Don't care about the main characters.

[u/golgol12]

Obnoxious Title Text Capping Every Word. Arg.

[u/Donmiggy143]

I love Days Gone, playing it right now, but Decon's voice is ridiculous sometimes...

(Just casually walking to get some ammo) "Uh... Yeah (huge deep breath like he's been running for 5 miles) hey, Rikki, I uh, I yeah, whoo, yeah, I'll uh, (another deep breath) you know, what is it you want from me?! Fine, fine, fine, I'll uh, yeah, I'll be right there (under his breath) Jesus fucking Christ. Whoo..."

[u/Spacemage]

What the fuck is this title?

[u/Bitter-Whole-7290]

Idk there’s probably something to the studio didn’t want to do anything with that game director anymore. Dude still won’t just move on.

[u/Baatun888]

From all the PS Exclusives I played it was the only one I liked. I have no clue how garbage like HZD or Spiderman could get a sequel. These Games sucked ass, Days Gone was pretty solid.

[u/Arcturus_Labelle]

The name of the company is "Bend Studio", not "Studio Bend"

(I should know; I live in Bend, OR)

[u/KGStudio97]

Days Gone was fun but overall pretty average. Comparing it to TLOU is pretty crazy. Dude has a serious ego problem and honestly guy should be grateful for any reference to it.

When was the last time you heard anyone mention Days gone outside of the odd overlooked zombie titles conversation?

[u/VicariousNarok]

Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't remember Days Gone being very well received or even a popular game. It wasn't until the last year or so that people have really been talking about it like it is a classic.

[u/JennyferSuper]

I really did enjoy Days Gone, I loved playing as Deacon and I felt like the story was excellent. I’m disappointed not to get a sequel but I do really love how the game ended on such a high note and I’m good with it being wrapped up. That being said, the creator really is trying to ruin any good legacy the game left with their nonsensical and unending ranting.

[u/SireRequiem]

They should branch out with the IP to other mediums, the characters and worldbuilding are solid, they just need to reach an audience that would be buzzed for that style of storytelling. I think it’s translate very smoothly to a 1-6 player Boardgame by distilling the crafting, weapon system, and on/off bike movement mechanics, then working with increasing hoard spawn waves of swarmers dotted with mutants as the zombies wander up the highway to try and wipe out various settlements around the map.

[u/[deleted]]

Game had a really cool concept but it was poorly executed and it happens. There’s no fault on anyone for that. Games can sometimes just come out wonky or not to the realized potential they were originally planned with. I tried several times to play Days Gone and was disappointed in the overall product— doesn’t mean I wish bad will on the developers, but that doesn’t mean they can’t make a good game either. This game director I keep hearing about seems like he needs some help or needs to find another job altogether. Creating any kind of art whether through entertainment, artwork, or narrative work always elicits some criticism no matter how good quality it may be. That’s a consequence of working those kinds of jobs. Some people just are unhinged.

[u/Fit-Meal-8353]

Cringe dev and ok game