Reports Indicate A Days Gone Sequel Was Once In Development
A sequel to Sony Interactive Entertainment and Bend Studio’s action adventure game, Days Gone, was reportedly in development at one point.
Among the recent spell of leaks involving Insomniac Games’ future titles is a presentation slide indicating that Bend Studio was at one point working on a sequel to Days Gone. The studio seemed to be looking to make a pitch to the Head of PlayStation Studios, Herman Hulst.
According to the presentation slide, Bend Studio appeared to have been working on early prototypes for a Days Gone sequel and a new Uncharted title. Going by the details mentioned regarding budgeting and new hires for both titles, the studio was likely to move forward with one of these projects after Hulst’s feedback. The presentation slide in question can be seen below.
However, it turned out that Bend Studio didn’t move forward with either title, and ended up working on a brand new IP. Back in May, 2023, former Game Director at Bend Studio, Jeff Ross, took to Twitter/X to share that Days Gone 2 would have been released by now, had it not been canceled. He mentioned that he tends to get his disappointed by PlayStation Showcase events because they only remind him that Days Gone 2 could have already been released if everyone involved had “just stuck to their guns”.
Some time ago, it was reported that Bend Studio is likely to be using Guerrilla Games’ Decima engine for its next project, and that it will be an open world game. Game designer Mathew Seymour’s LinkedIn profile states that he has been working with the Decima engine for the development of Bend Studio’s next title.
The unannounced project is said to be targeting “Cinematic-Quality” Facial Animation, 3D Audio, and possibly online multiplayer. The LinkedIn profile of Senior Staff Technical Artist, James Sathre mentioned integrating Shotgun-Jira in the studio’s development pipeline and working on next-generation lighting workflow tools. Regarding the game being open world, Bend Studio had assigned a senior lead designer, Ron Allen, to work specifically on the open world and mission design component of its new project.
According to the ArtStation profile of concept artist Hung Nguy, the unannounced title from Bend Studio will be released in 2025.