Speaking with the Bend Bulletin, Days Gone Creative Director John Garvin revealed that Sony Bend Studio has been working on the game since 2012, it’s the biggest-budget project ever from the studio, and they’ve gone from 45 developers (they previously worked on Uncharted: Golden Abyss) to 103.
A release window wasn’t given for Days Gone when it was announced at E3 2016, but Garvin and Studio Director Chris Reese don’t plan on downsizing after it launches. As Reese added, Bend Studio has a “longer term plan” with Days Gone, though he didn’t mention what that plan was.
Carrying a budget comparable to other AAA games, Days Gone’s zombie theme (the zombies are called ‘Freakers’) was inspired by The Walking Dead and World War Z, and Garvin was drawn to it because of the stories it can inspire:
It allows you to create a world that has instant danger ? and where the pressures are so great that it sort of pushes people to the limits of what they?re capable of.

As for the protagonist, former biker Deacon St. John, he was inspired by Sons of Anarchy and continues to fight to survive, despite his family being dead. Asked why he struggles, Garvin said Days Gone will answer that, adding, “There is a huge story in this game.”
After Reese said that the size and complexity of the Freaker horde is unlike anything else available on the market so far, Garvin gave the credit to Engineer Norman Chang:

He?s the one who w...