There was infighting between management about the direction, per podcast of David Jaffe where the creators were on. He did pitch Days Gone 2 (and open world Resistance) but they rejected it, apparently it was a co-op style MP direction seems like the others wanted to patch/fix DG, put it on PS5 and move on from the IP.
Sony apparently wanted them do a Syphon Filter reboot but at the same time declined this pitch eventually? There were some contradicting statements. NDA? Lies? Who knows. All we know the Days Gone dudes left the studio.
What the DG directors said in the Jaffe podcast was that some of them wanted to make DG2 (including some ideas they didn't have time to implement for DG1 like coop) but their studio manager within Bend didn't want it, so he blocked the DG2 pitch and never was sent to PS Studios/SIE.
The first pitch that PS Studios/SIE got from Bend was the new IP -which includes many of these DG ideas- they are working on.
Before that, even before releasing DG, Sony -who according to them always were very supportive and caring with them, even after the reviews- suggested them to bring back Syphon Filter some day, but these directors said they already told the Shyphon Filter story in the previous titles and didn't know how to properly adapt it to the tastes of the modern market to make it look cool and fresh (plus financially viable).
TLDR:
- Sony suggested to make a new Syphon Filter
- The directors of DG (at least its creative director) wanted to make DG2
- Bend's management wanted to make another new IP instead
- So they made a new IP after DG (which doesn't mean that they will never make DG2 or Syphol Filter, maybe they plan to make these projects later)
What is known is that Sony wanted part of the team to support Naughty Dogg on (Factions) and another team work on Uncharted under ND's supervision.
According to the game directors of DG, during decades ND and Bend helped each other in a lot of projects of both studios when a team had some people free between projects and the other one was in a peak of a ton of work. A common practice in AAA teams of big publishers.
Since the Days Gone release, while they ported it to PC and released fixes and post launch content, until the greenlight and start of the production of the new Bend IP, Bend had many people free. So they did put this people to support ND in TLOU Online and a new Uncharted spinoff.
In other cases of the past, it was the opposite: it was ND staff who supported Bend.
Staff revolted not wanting to be Naughty Doggs support studio in fear of losing their identity - per Jason Schreier report. Who knows what happened to the Uncharted one, we know Factions is cancelled and Bend is currently working on a new (live-service) IP which the staff wanted.
The Days Gone debunked this part of Bend revolting against ND -or Sony-, or being afraid of being absorved by ND. That was made up by Schreier or his "sources". They said that both studios had a great releationship, mutual respect and admiration since generations ago, and support and praise each other.
We don't know what happened with the Uncharted game once Bend moved away to work only in their new IP in 2021. My theory is that after releasing TLOU2 in H2 2020, the SP team at ND took some vacations and then got this Uncharted as their next SP game after TLOU2, while Bend moved to work on their new IP.
We know ND is working in a new SP game since early 2021, and another one since early 2023. And that none of them is TLOU3. So I assume the 2021 one may be this Uncharted game and the 2023 one may be a new IP.
And then in H2 2023, now that Druckmann has a story for TLOU3, maybe they cancelled TLOU Online to reuse part of that job done there to put it in TLOU3, which I assume they'd start just after cancelling TLOU Online. Meaning, they'd have now 3 new SP games under develeopment at the same time.
Sales wise, yeah it depends on at what price it sold. Spiderman 2 sold like 10 million at 70 thus far, if it was at 20 they would'v made a loss.
Just stiff competition within PS studios and if your game is not received as well critically and poor technical issues on launch, yeah you get the black sheep feeling quickly when others win awards, pushing 20 million sales, praises for it's technical side and story etc.
Recently platinumed it through the collection btw, great game, enjoyed it looked good on PS5, hordes were a cool mechanic.
Yes, revenue depends not only of the amount of sales, but also the price they are sold. I think the game was great, but I agree that half a year more or a year more of development to further polish bugs and performance, and to improve a bit more the technical side would have greatly benefited it specially in the reviews. But I assume it already had been delayed more than they considered reasonable so couldn't delay it more.
At the end, many reviewers still were going to bash it for being a Sony exclusive and for featuring a white heterosexual male as protagonist.
Ok so let me get this straight, the brand New IP from Bend sells millions of copies and Bends Upper Management decide not to greenlight a sequel?
Yes, the internal Bend management didn't want to make a sequel after DG and wanted to make a new IP. So they never sent to Sony/PS Studios a DG2 pitch and sent them instead a pitch of a new IP.
It's now been 5 years and we had no new announcements from Bend
I'm sorry but this is just bad management, there's no way to defend this.
In these 5 years they announced and released DG post launch content, the DG PC port, announced a movie adaptation and to be working on a new IP.
After DG they also were working on TLOU Online and a new Uncharted. They started to work in the new IP in 2021, and nowadays AAA games take around 5-9 years to be released, and in recent years outside a few exceptions Sony normally doesn't show games until close to release.
So it's perfectly normal that they still haven't shown or announced their new IP, there's absolutely nothing that leads to think there's bad management there. The games now take way longer to be made than back in the PS1 or PS3 days because they are way bigger, longer more complex and detailed than were back then, that's all.
I’ll tell you again for the 3rd time, chill out. Maybe take a break from the site, you’re embarrassing yourself….
