After being reported as canceled, Days Gone 2 is still being heavily demanded by players following a recent petition directed at PlayStation, surpassing over 100,000 signatures in a rather short period of time. It certainly proves there's a vocal group of players that wants to see the world of Days Gone more thoroughly explored and realized, but it's not clear if Sony Interactive Entertainment will ultimately listen.
It was recently revealed in a report that Sony rejected a Days Gone sequel after the first game's release in 2019, seemingly due to its mixed critical reception and lengthy development time. Although the game managed to sell a lot of copies, it apparently wasn't enough to justify the game's roughly seven-year development, or it simply wasn't seen as a marquee title Sony wanted under the PlayStation brand. Either way, it isn't stopping a staunch group of fans from trying their hardest to persuade the company to move ahead with a sequel.
A Change.org Days Gone 2 petition is on the edge of 107,000 signatures at publication time, which is rather impressive for a petition that was created only about a month ago. While the number sounds large, 100,000 is still a small amount of people for Sony to consider shelling out tens of millions of dollars for a new game, but the petition still shows greater support than some may have been expecting. In its first few days, the Days Gone 2 petition had 30,000 signatures after it was revealed the axed game was planned to have co-op gameplay, so its steadily growing list of signatures could make it harder and harder for Sony to ignore altogether.
These fans' best bet is coming up shortly, though. Days Gone is getting a PC port on May 18, and it's entirely possible that if enough people purchase it on Steam that SIE could reevaluate the worth of continuing the franchise. It's not exactly clear what developer Bend Studio is working on next, although there were rumblings that the studio was working on a new, now-canceled Uncharted spinoff at some point, but it reportedly left that project to work more independently. As for what's next, it seems probable the studio may try something entirely new if a Days Gone sequel isn't on the cards.
Had it been made, Days Gone 2 would've had co-op and seemingly grown much bigger in scope. The first game's depiction of Oregon is already quite sizable, but with the power of the PlayStation 5, Bend could have potentially taken the open-world zombie game to new heights. Perhaps someday Sony will allow Bend to revisit the franchise, but there are plenty of dormant IPs in the industry that just quietly fade away over time, even with vocal minorities crying for their return. That fate wouldn't be unprecedented for Days Gone 2, but stranger things have happened.
Source: Change.org