75k People Have Signed A Petition For Days Gone 2

We're back on our motorbikes and championing the idea of Days Gone 2, with a fan-made petition for Sony Bend Studio to put a little more gas in the tank. It seems like an age ago that we revved off into the apocalypse as outlaw Deacon St. John, but two years after the Sony-exclusive game rocketed to the top of the charts, it's clear we're still hungry for more brain-munching zombies.

It wasn't just Sam Witwer's acclaimed performance as the Daryl Dixon-esque Deacon St. John that made Days Gone stand out from the crowd. Sadly, a recent flurry of activity claims Sony turned down Bend's pitch for Days Gone 2, and instead, wanted the team to work on something for Naughty Dog. Just days after Game Director John Garvin called out "cheap" players for the reason why we're not getting Days Gone 2, a fan petition for Sony to reconsider is going viral.

What is the Days Gone 2 petition?

A Change.org petition title "Get Sony PlayStation to approve Days Gone 2" has a modest target of just 75k signatures. At the time of writing, the target is well within reach and currently sits at 68,000. As more and more sites pick up on the news, it looks increasingly likely that the petition will smash past its target and keep on going. The description for the cause reads, "There’s millions of people who want Sony PlayStation to approve Days Gone 2. And I want all the fans to sign this petition. They can’t just pull the plug on such an amazing game that ended with a cliff hanger". 

For those who need a refresher *spoilers follow*, Days Gone ended with the tantalising tease of a sequel thanks to the reveal that National Emergency Response Organization (NERO) knew about the outbreak's mutating abilities. Worse than this, as Deacon St. John is reunited with his wife and settles down for a quiet life in Lost Lake, there's the shock twist that NERO researcher James O'Brian has infected himself with the virus and is a super-intelligent Freaker. The game ends with O'Brian leaping up to a helicopter and promising that NERO is on the way to get St. John and his seemingly happy ending. 

We don't know what Garvin's pitch for the sequel was, but we're guessing it would include similar third-person mechanics to the first game and a much bigger story. As well as the potential of being able to play as Deacon's wife, we assume there would be even more powerful enemy types thanks to the evolved forms of Freaker. Unfortunately, we might never know what was planned. 

Will the Days Gone 2 petition lead to a sequel?

Even if the Change.org campaign doesn't do anything for Days Gone 2, our efforts haven't gone unnoticed by the orignal's team. After Garvin's rather salty stance toward the gaming community, fellow Director James Ross took to Twitter to thank players for their continued support. In a recent podcast with God of War's David Jaffe, Ross confirmed there was going to be a massive online multiplayer and "a shared universe with co-op play". Sadly, with both Ross and Garvin having left Bend, their NDAs mean they can't give any more details on what could've been.

Has Bend Studios responded to the Days Gone petition?

Well, kind of. But it's not exactly what people wanted. The team behind Days Gone has Tweeted, saying: "We are beyond grateful for your support with Days Gone and truly honoured by the amount of passion our community has shared with us for our world and characters. Your enthusiasm motivates us to continue to improve and create experiences that will last a lifetime. 

"From the Syphon Filters series to Resistance: Retribution, to Uncharted: Golden Abyss, and Days Gone, we are very excited to announce today that we are expanding the Vend Studio portfolio with a brand-new IP. 

"We hope you embark on this new journey with us, and we can't wait to show you what we've been working on."

The big question is, will Bend Studio cave to the pressure? In short, probably not. Remember when over a million disgruntled Game of Thrones fans signed a petition for HBO to remake Season 8? Look where that got us, nowhere. Ultimately, even thousands of signatures are unlikely to sway a publisher as big as Sony and cause it to do a U-turn. Then again, there's the upcoming release of Days Gone on Microsoft Windows to think about. Following in the footsteps of Horizon Zero Dawn, Sony has vowed to share its toys and port some of its biggest (former) exclusives to its rival.

Will the May 18 release on Days Gone on Windows - and well-timed petition for Days Gone 2 - finally give hope that Deacon St. John's story will carry on? For now, we're left motoring out toward the horizon as the Empty light flashes on our motorbike.

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Images via Bend Studio