Days Gone creative director and writer John Garvin attributes the cancellation of the sequel to the mixed reviews the game received.
Art from the Days Gone 2 campaign on Change.org
“This is just the reality of Sony, Metacritic score is everything,” Garvin said in an interview to David Jaffe. “If you’re the creative director on a franchise and your game is coming out to a 70, you’re not going to be the creative director on that franchise for very long.”
Garvin departed from Sony Bend right after Days Gone came out in April 2019.
With franchases like Uncharted, The Last of Us, God of War, Marvel’s Spider-Man, and others under its belt, Sony might have come to expect nothing less than outstanding critical acclaim from its properties. Outstanding critical acclaim combined with good sales, that is. This might explain why Japan Studio was shut down. Despite having an average Metacritic score of 80, the studio’s title Gravity Rush 2 didn’t sell all that well.
In the meantime, on Change.org, fans are petitioning for a Days Gone sequel. The Days Gone 2 petition has already amassed over 47,000 signatures.