Saber Interactive pitched a Days Gone multiplayer mode to Sony. Saber is currently developing the World War Z game based on the cross-media franchise of the same name. Both games are third-person action-adventure games featuring swarms of zombies (erm, “Freakers” in Days Gone‘s case). Sony reportedly didn’t want the multiplayer mode.
Saber Interactive CEO Matthew Karch revealed the information while speaking to Venture Beat. He was interested in having Saber develop a multiplayer component to Bend Studio’s post-apocalyptic biker tale.
“Days Gone, it’s a single-player experience,” he said. “At some point, I went to Sony and said, ‘I’ve seen what you’re doing with Days Gone. Look what we’re doing with World War Z. Maybe we can help you with a multiplayer component.’ But they were obviously too focused, and understandably, on what they needed to do to get that game out.
But it was more than just an urge to develop the mode. Saber had already started making it.
“We were already under development when we heard about it,” he said. “Of course we took a deep sigh, when you know Sony is going to be putting major marketing dollars behind a title that’s highlighting the swarms the way they were. It took a little wind out of our sails. But since then they’ve focused less on those swarm elements and more, I think, on the story aspect of their game. I don’t know if we’re in the clear, is the way to put it, but there’s a market for both games, what we’re both doing.”
Sony’s Bend Studio has been developing Days Gone since the early 2010s, after releasing Uncharted: Golden Abyss for the PS Vita in 2011. The studio unveiled Days Gone at E3 2016 starring biker Deacon St. John, a bounty hunter eking out survival in the remnants of society. Although there will be no Days Gone multiplayer, the game has branching storylines and multiple ways to complete objectives. The single-player action adventure game has faced a number of delays, but is now set for a release in April 29, 2019.
