There are a fair few similarities between Days Gone and World War Z. Both games feature bleak post apocalyptic settings, and both boast giant hordes of zombies as key a gameplay feature.
As it turns out, the development team working on World War Z – the first video game adaptation of the book and movie franchise – were all too aware of the similarities between their own game and PS4 exclusive Days Gone.
Saber Interactive CEO Matthew Karch has revealed in a new interview with GamesBeat that he actually approached Sony in an attempt to make the best of what World War Z and Days Gone have in common: Lots and lots of zombies.
Karch explained that he offered to help Sony create some kind of multiplayer mode for the single-player focused Days Gone. Given that World War Z is all about co-op zombie slaying action, his team clearly have some experience in that field.
Unfortunately, Sony just weren’t that into the idea, as Karch said:
Days Gone, it’s a single-player experience. 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.
The team working on World War Z are a much smaller crew than the massive studio Sony has working on Days Gone, you won’t be surprised to learn. So when Karch learned that the two games would be quite similar in some ways, he was a little disappointed.
He explained:
We were already under development when we heard about it. 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.
Days Gone comes to PS4 on April 26, 2019, while World War Z hits PS4, Xbox One, and PC at some point in 2019. There’s no set release just yet, but Karch did reveal that a beta should be arriving soon.
Ewan Moore is a journalist at UNILAD Gaming who still quite hasn’t gotten out of his mid 00’s emo phase. After graduating from the University of Portsmouth in 2015 with a BA in Journalism & Media Studies (thanks for asking), he went on to do some freelance words for various places, including Kotaku, Den of Geek, and TheSixthAxis, before landing a full time gig at UNILAD in 2016.