Bend Studios unannounced new project reportedly already at the $250million budget mark.

https://mp1st.com/news/days-gone-director-claims-bend-studios-project-costs-over-250-million-blames-the-last-of-us-for-lack-of-a-sequel

Holy hell! Bend studios, creators of Days Gone is reportedly working on an unannounced game that Sony has already invested somewhere near 250 million dollars to make. The project has not been announced and little is known, but former developer and director of Days Gone, Jeff Ross claims the gargantuan budget. For those wondering, a 250 million dollar budget at 70 dollars would mean selling 3.5 million full priced copies before turning profit.

Ross also goes on to lament that Sony brass, specifically Herman Hulst does not like Days Gone, doesn't see it as a franchise worth resurrecting and doesn't think Sony will want another zombie game to pair with last of us.

What do you think about this system wars? The trend of bloating budgets continues. Is it fair to criticize a budget before seeing the product or is this gonna be another drop in the bucket, breaking AAA games.

Why does Kojima get to make a sequel if Days Gone did better?

Further, do you think Ross has sour grapes or do you think Sony really doesn't like days gone and won't want to revisit...? Do u care?

Days Gone sucked.

The idea of games having wheel barrows of cash thrown at them sounds great, but not at the cost of development time, or the studios ability to exist.

I hope the game is great, but if it has to be 'middle of the road' enough to appeal to everyone, it probably won't interest me.

Well, at least its a singleplayer game, and not some Microtransaction Store called Concord. But i have no interest in a sequel of Days Gone. After watching Civil War from A24, i want a movie with this setting. An open world game with some sections of the map where everyone is completely oblivious to the clusterfuck that's happening elsehwere in the States, living their life like nothing is happening, while in other sections you see people being burned alive inside truck tires, and a bunch of other crazy shit. I think it could be a pretty interesting concept for a game, and zombies aren't even needed.

They must have some really high hopes for this next project then, the kind where the studio that gets that kind of money is in serious trouble if they don't deliver.

All I can say is you better get ready for over 7hrs of cutscenes people.

Me personally, I have little interest for first party titles from Sony as they're all basically the same genre with far too many cut scenes.

AAA gaming these days….heh. 😑

Had no interest in Days Gone. Will see how this turns out I guess.

At that price you know it is going to be an overly cinematic game. Hellblade 2, watch your back.😂

@Pedro: "Hellblade 2, watch your back."

Too bad Sony won't put this new project on PS+ day 1.

I always thought that days gone felt too generic at first glance. Open world zombie games are very common.

Not sure about this new game, but it's always exciting when they put money on a new single player franchise.

Days gone wasn't bad, it was just overhyped that people expected something more from a game that was made to be some kind of a filler between heavy hitters.

Days Gone is now going for $12.49

Dude needs to let it go.

I honestly think PlayStation doesn't use Deacon because he looks 100% like the voice actor. That would also explain why Until Dawn has no characters on there either and yet it's getting a remake and apparently a sequel. Not to mention there's a Days Gone movie I'm development. lol

Am I the only one getting sick of people trying to talk up DG like it was anything more than a super generic open world game?? Game was bad, get over it…

same here its bs fomo drama posting many do to feel like their in a eco chamber.

It will probably be a service games so they only need to find about 50 k whales spending 5 k each.

Guarantee could pick up a rando £10 - £20 Steam game with 1/1000th of that budget and it's probably better than whatever they put out.

Sounds like a bad game in the making. Not even kidding, with that kind of budget, it can't be good. Expect at least half the game to be a movie, cinematics and scripted events everywhere. Highly paid actors and cutting edge graphics, but a shit game. The Sony way.

How much of that was wasted on voice actors and graphical fidelity no one will ever notice?

Cough cows cough, sorry about that I just had to clear my throat.

We don't know what the project is yet but at 250 mill and counting you can bet Sony us burning cash on all the things that don't matter a lick.

Bend Studios...

Oh, cool, cool...they've got some talent

...announces a new project...

Nice, nice....always good to hear about new games coming out

...already in the $250+ million range

aaaaaaaaaaaaaand now my enthusiasm is killed. This isn't a game made for gaming's sake any more, to make some money. This is a game made to hype and spur a corporation to infinite growth in a finite world.

Le sigh

Ah well, high hopes, low expectations. Such is my outlook on so-called "AAA games" these days.

Oh and it's $250 million before marketing. Expecting this to be $350+ million after markting.

Wonder if they'll make the AAAA claim before release, that went well for Ubisoft...

It's probably going to be an online live-service game with a budget like that.

Which is funny because if you're like me you are expecting a great singleplayer experience like Day's Gone, Syphon Filter, etc.

Now imagine what will be the budget of Kojima's upcoming games. Dude loves to shove every Hollywood actor in there because he failed to make it in a film industry.

That's actually a good call... Death stranding ended up being a somewhat niche experience. It's likely the sequel costs premium dollars and the first game sold less than Days Gone? What happens if it doesn't break through?

He will continue to squeeze money from MS with the facial animation game.😂

halo infinite had a budget of $500 million. So, this $250 million spent so far isn't so amazing.

This $250m budget sounds sus to be honest. For a developer that put out a game that Sony was not enthusiastic about, that is a hell of a financial commitment and show of confidence in the developer. I personally think they are a good developer and Days Gone is also a pretty good game with flaws. However, $250m seems like a stretch. We will see what their next game is though.... if they don't get shut down of course. LOL

Nothing will happen. He will still get someone to fund his next venture. His name is enough for hype and marketing so the game performance it self doesn't matter as much.

The idea that Sony's portfolio shouldn't have two zombie games in it is a rare example of good judgement from the execs. Not every game needs a sequel; least of which would be yet another openworld map cleaner that is zombie themed.

Granted it was 20 years ago, but I remember how shocking it was that Yu Suzuki spent 40 mil making Shenmue for the Dreamcast.

Regardless, hopefully whatever Bend is working on is single player focused 🤞

$40 million try $70 million.

@last_lap: That includes marketing, but still applies, I suppose.

No it didn't . Honestly it did alot of things very well but to each their own.

@silentchief: You say it didn't suck, but then proceed to say to each their own, basically saying that I can hold my opinion that it sucks.... So why even reply to my comment? If you enjoyed the game, more power to you. I found it boring, the dialogue beyond cheesy, and it couldn't keep me interested past an hour. :/

Edit: May I ask what things did it do very well?

You want me to tell you your opinion sucks therefore it's invalid?

The horde encounters were outstanding. Fighting 500 plus zombies at a time was an experience that no other game delivered the same way and the motorcycle was legitimately well done. Not only the way it handled but how you could seamlessly go in and out of combat encounters with it offered some thrilling moments.

Killing hundreds of zombies while more and more kept coming and the only way you get out is run your ass to your Motorcycle and floor it while things are closing in on all sides. I don't know I thought it delivered some really awesome unscripted moments but you would have had to play it longer then an hour to experience that.

@silentchief: I'm just saying that it seemed unnecessary to reply to my post. I have my opinion that it sucked, then you have yours that it was good. Perhaps I read your previously post incorrectly, but did it not essentially say, "The game doesn't suck, but you can have your opinion that it sucked." Do you know what I mean? My opinion doesn't change, and you're free to enjoy it.

Maybe not to the same extent in regards to the amount of Zombies, but didn't Left 4 Dead and Dead Rising do this already? Not trying to argue or anything. :)

@mycatismilk: You triggered the lad.🤭

Honestly, I don't understand why Days Gone gets this much dislike here, I for one didn't enjoy it nor finish it on PS4 due to the limited hardware, but when it came to PC, I fell in love with the game more so. That being said, if you aren't a fan of The Walking Dead or Sons of Anarchy TV series, of course, you aren't gonna like Days Gone as that game borrows both of those TV series and both had easter eggs in Days Gone for that matter. Sam Witwer as Deacon was the perfect actor for the role IMO.

I wish Days Gone would get a sequel but I think the movie itself is still going but, without Sam Witwer involved with the movie, the movie is doomed to fail!

Edit: By the way guys, stop calling Days Gone a Zombie game because it isn't. (The same for TLOU really)

A zombie game shouldn't be called a zombie game because you said it isn't?🤔

So the game isn't good unless you watch these television shows? That seems to be the logic I'm getting from your post. Of course you can't please everyone with your product, nor should you try to please everyone. I believe that if you're aiming for a specific auidence, aim for them as long as you have a large enough fan base for it to justify all of the money you invested in making your product. But it does come across as a poor excuse of a reason for why the game didn't do good. Reminds me of when I invest 20+hrs in an RPG, and then everyone tells me, "Dude, 100hrs in it gets really good." Tough luck! Your job is to hook players with your introduction, not end game. LOL

@Pedro: They're not actually (dead) undead, they're just infected/mutated people which can be capable of reasoning. Game Developers these days don't know the definition of a true Zombie. The Walking Dead is a good example.

@mycatismilk: Again, there are easter eggs assuming you watch TV and stuff like that. Never thought I would find easter eggs from my previous favorite shows.

Fun fact: At the beginning of The Walking Dead, episode one was called: Days Gone Bye, and the actor Sam Witwer was in that episode. Another reason why Days Gone was inspired by The Walking Dead.

Zombies haven't been limited to living dead for ages. Zombies being infected/mutated people is just the modernization of zombies.

Stop the projection 🤣

Since this is now about Day's Gone (😅), I don't know how much of a mess the game was when it was first released, when I played it on ps5 I loved every second of it.

No I just wanted to get an idea of why you think it sucked and you pretty much answered my question. Because you barely played it.

None of those games do it in a seamless open world. Left 4 Dead is a co op shooter and Dead Rising while entertaining was just cheesy dumb fun where you kill hordes of slow zombies in mass.

I think what bugs me is shitty yearly releases like COD and Assasins Creed got 8s and those games do nothing special while Days Gone got heaps of hate and it's gameplay loop was better then most.

You don't even know how to you use or what is projection.🤭

You are the most triggered bitch in this forum and are still upset about the last thread.

Like I said stop the projection! 🤣