I think that before any petition or Bloomberg drama Sony already decided they were going to make DG2, but not just after DG1 for various reasons:
-They have TLOU2 PS5+TLOUR, Factions 2 and TLOU tv series coming, so better avoid zombies for a while
-They already have many sequels on the works in other Sony studios, so would be nice to get a new IP
-Days Gone is profitable and sold more than all previous Bend games combined, and after the fixes, PS5 patch, PC port, PS Plus and collection it may end having awesome sales, so may want to see if it's the case
-Reviews were meh/bad, but after the patches, extra content and fixes the reviews of the PC version can be great, so may want to see if it's the case
-Maybe they couldn't start working on DG2 now because needed Bend to help ND with a couple of projects first
-Maybe they couldn't start working on DG2 because they want to make it with UE5 so need to want until at least later this year to properly start full production so prefer to do other stuff until then