Days Gone 2 cancellation reason revealed by former Bend Studio director

According to Jeff Ross, Shawn Layden's departure killed Bend Studio's chances of getting a sequel greenlit.

In an extensive interview conducted and uploaded by David Jaffe, who is best known for his work on the Twisted Metal and God of War franchises, Ross revealed a lot of information about Days Gone and Bend Studio's other canceled projects.

According to Ross, the longtime Sony employee and former president and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment America (SIEA) was a huge fan of Days Gone. But, this also meant that getting the sequel made without Layden in the picture was going to be near-impossible. Ross added that "as soon as Shawn was gone, Days Gone was dead." Jaffe then clarified if Ross was trying to throw "anyone under the bus" with his statement but he did go on to say that he didn't have any problems with Layden's successor, Jim Ryan.

Ross has been ruffling feathers lately with his tweets about Days Gone. Even if some have pointed out that his numbers aren't accurate, it's clear that the idea that Days Gone was a failure doesn't sit well with him.

In addition to his tweet about Days Gone, the former Bend Studio director also revealed that he pitched an open-world Resistance sequel to Sony after it declined Days Gone 2. He also added that Sony asked him to do a Syphon Filter reboot. Unfortunately, Sony passed on the former. Jeff explains that he thinks that the reason for this is because the last Resistance game did not do too well. Meanwhile, for the latter, it was Ross who declined the offer, saying that he had "zero ideas on how to reboot Syphon Filter."

If it's any consolation, Bend Studio is working on something new. PlayStation Studios head Hermen Hulst revealed back in June 2021 that the studio was working on a new IP. Hulst's statement came just months after Bloomberg reported that Bend declined Sony's offer to work on two unannounced titles, including a new Uncharted game, to go do its own thing.