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[Gameplaylover]

If It sales were because of marketing push It would have sold most of that copies Day One through preorder. It didn't. It mainly sold because of word of mouth.

You never sell most copies day 1, but Days Gone day 1 sales seemed to be so bad that the lead complained about the fans. I would call it nearly unplayable at launch on non Pro consoles. I had dia shows and several second long freezes while on the bike. I think it sold well in the end, because they fixed it and price dropped super fast. For 20-30 bucks or so it was a decent game.

 

[T0minator]

I think it will be a weak year for PS, but we'll see how well these cross-generation games do. I think it is clear that LOU2 underperformed pretty significantly, but there is still some chance of redeeming it. Especially with the TV show.

I think the Naughty Dog strategy is pretty clear for the most part.

Last of Us PS5 Collection (Last of Us Remake + Last of Us 2) - 70 dollars *Throw in some PS5 features like dual sense and 3d audio for the collection.

Last of Us Remake - 40 dollars on PS4 and 50 dollars on PS5

Last of Us Factions on PS4 and PS5 - F2P

There is no way in hell this year will be a "weak" year for PS. It's going to be a great year for pretty much everyone

 

[DenchDeckard]

It hasn’t really. It sold the 8 mil after a year and half with steep discounts. GoT already sold that much and its still full priced. Another half a year, a and pc release and the inevitable movie, it will do a lot more

i bought ghost of Tsushima last holiday on a Steep sale digitally from the store so this is incorrect.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

Here is what I dont understand. I understand how Jimbo got the job because kodera wasnt working out. Ok, he was next in line. It was either him or Shawn Layden. He won. Shawn had to go. Fine.

But why the hell was Herman brought in to replace Shu? Shu who had produced GOTY winners in 2013, 2016, 2018, 2019 and in 2020. Herman had taken over by 2019 but both DS and TLOU2 started dev and were greenlit and produced by Shuhei Yoshida when he was leading worldwide studios. So why in the world does a guy with a great record like that get replaced?

Herman came on in 2019, and did not greenlight DG2 or Death Stranding 2. How the fuck do you see the game win 100 awards, land at number 7 in a crazy month like November and say nah, Im gonna pass on a game by Hideo fucking Kojima. Now he's out there begging unknown and unproven start up studios like Jade Raymond's start up, the ex-bungie devs and ex-treyarch devs whose new studios have produced fuck all compared to Sony Bend. How about you invest in and trust your first party studios first? These guys shipped an open world game with just 100 devs while it takes ND 350 devs to make a linear game.

Kojima is literally just now starting dev on his next game. 2 years after shipping DS because Sony never greenlight any of his projects for two years. This is a guy who was fired and started a new studio from scratch and produced a new game in just 3.5 years. He wouldve had a next gen DS2 ready by 2022.

Yet here we are. 3 years into Herman's tenure, their first party have zero next gen only games coming out in 2022. A total of one next gen game in 2023. Wolverine doesnt even have a date which makes sense since its the Miles team doing a brand new IP. ND's next full game hasnt even been announced which means its still 3 years away. How does Herman still have a job?? All the while Shu has been demoted and relegated to work with indie devs after shipping five GOTY games in 8 years. Did not expect a Japanese company to do him dirty like that. It's obvious to me that Sony is no longer a Japanese company.

I've said all I need to in a long rant about DG2, but as I mentioned in that post, I think you also had rumblings about money given to kojima productions instead of internal studios.

Shu is also responsible for a lot of failures too. Japan cratered under his leadership. Bloodborne was not a huge hit, Last Guardian was a debacle, Gran Turismo hasn't been the predominant franchise it once was. Not a single hit out of Japan out of Shu.

Separately the Order was also a failure, Drive Club, the whole relationship with Quantic Dream didn't work out ending with Detroit Become Human.

The failure of Days Gone and Death Stranding probably had quite a bit to do with Shu essentially being demoted. Note he stepped down the day before Death Stranding was released.

Not saying Herman has proven his success, but they probably want a higher percentage of hits, especially as budgets continue to increase and games become riskier. Herman is probably more likely to say no to a game than Shu was, but expecting that Herman would have more games released by now given when he got the job and ignoring the pandemic is probably misplaced. Herman has literally been the boss for 2 years, when games can take anywhere from 4-5+ years to make.

Also his interest in partnerships with companies like Jade Raymond are low risk high reward, which is exactly what you need when you're making games like the LOU2 and giving devs carte blanch to take risks with big budget games that don't always result in profits. A balanced portfolio is what you're looking for. Not everything can big AAA high-risk high budget.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

There is no way in hell this year will be a "weak" year for PS. It's going to be a great year for pretty much everyone

I'm not sold on these cross gen first party games selling me on next gen, so for me, it doesn't look promising.

I just bought Ghost of Tsushima a week or two ago, but I'm growing tired of playing PS4 games on my PS5 and GT7, HFW, GoWR all look like enhanced PS4 games to me rather than next gen blockbusters. I hope I'm wrong though.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

i bought ghost of Tsushima last holiday on a Steep sale digitally from the store so this is incorrect.

GoT has never been less than 40 dollars iirc.

 

[remember_spinal]

There is no way in hell this year will be a "weak" year for PS. It's going to be a great year for pretty much everyone

Yeah, people are putting too much weight on “cross-gen” its still 3 follow ups to their biggest franchises last gen. God of War Ragnarok is not weak regardless of how or when it comes out, horizon is looking like the best looking game to come out this year, and GT is sonys oldest active IP. On top of new hardware with software releasing for it. Who even knows what the intangibles are inbetween all that.

People crowned xbox the “winner” last year for having two cross-gen games release, after Sony released multiple next gen games post console launch.

If having multiple 10m+ sellers is a ‘weak’ year, gaming is doomed.

 

[DenchDeckard]

GoT has never been less than 40 dollars iirc.

Even in the uk? Maybe I bought it for like 30 quid then because of the ps5 patch Near launch. It was deffo on sale though.

I think an important thing we are missing here, I remember listening to a podcast that was talking about how long the development for days gone was. I think it was in planning for a year or two then like 5 to 6 years of active development with issues.

yes, it may have sold more than got but maybe sucker punch were much more streamlined and stayed on budget with less issues than Bend?

 

[GymWolf]

I know that metacritic is lower but i really think that days gone is not a worse game than tsushima or DS.

They all have merits and flaws, i had more fun with days gone than the other 2.

DS had the kojima push and all the big name actors in the cast, and tsushima was the samurai AC game that people was desiring for years with an incredible art design, days gone was out when zombie and sons of anarchy weren't the hot shit anymore and it was always shitted on and doubted about by everyone since his first reveal.

And at least on pro, it was far from unplayeable, it was less bugged than any ac game at launch, but i saw the framerate on the ps4 base console and it was a bit rough, not gonna lie (but ac games have the same slowdown and they are more glitchy in general), base console were too shit for these open world games, and days gone has far more shit on screen than tsushima and ds combined, and it still managed to look as good as those 2 (inferior in some things, superior in others)

 

[Mibu no ookami]

Yeah, people are putting too much weight on “cross-gen” its still 3 follow ups to their biggest franchises last gen. God of War Ragnarok is not weak regardless of how or when it comes out, horizon is looking like the best looking game to come out this year, and GT is sonys oldest active IP. On top of new hardware with software releasing for it. Who even knows what the intangibles are inbetween all that.

People crowned xbox the “winner” last year for having two cross-gen games release, after Sony released multiple next gen games post console launch.

If having multiple 10m+ sellers is a ‘weak’ year, gaming is doomed.

God of War 3 was great and God of War Ascension was a bomb. Not saying Ragnorak is Ascension, but the decision to make this on PS4 reminds me of the decision to make Ascension on PS3 rather than move on to a new platform. Not sure that Ascension would have been great if they ported it to PS4 with enhancements.

Ultimately, I think the PS4 is going to hold these titles back. I didn't buy a PS5 to play games for the foreseeable future that are PS4 games with a nicer coat of paint. I want next-gen games and these just aren't it. I'm not here to praise Forza Horizon or Halo Infinite either. Microsoft and Sony might not believe in generations, but I do.

I recall being mesmerized going from Super Mario Bros to Super Mario World. From Final Fantasy 6 to Final Fantasy 7. From From Metal Gear Solid to Metal Gear Solid 2. From Jak and Daxter to Uncharted. From God of War 3 to God of War 2018.

Nothing on PS5 so far has come close to blowing my mind like LOU2 did.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

Even in the uk? Maybe I bought it for like 30 quid then because of the ps5 patch Near launch. It was deffo on sale though.

I think an important thing we are missing here, I remember listening to a podcast that was talking about how long the development for days gone was. I think it was in planning for a year or two then like 5 to 6 years of active development with issues.

yes, it may have sold more than got but maybe sucker punch were much more streamlined and stayed on budget with less issues than Bend?

I only know the US. UK some strange things can happen based on exchange rates, but i'd double check.

I mentioned that we have no idea how much DG cost to develop compared to Ghost.

 

[Gameplaylover]

GoT has never been less than 40 dollars iirc.

Maybe not the digital version, but on disc it was below 40 bucks before christmas 2020.

 

[T0minator]

I'm not sold on these cross gen first party games selling me on next gen, so for me, it doesn't look promising.

I just bought Ghost of Tsushima a week or two ago, but I'm growing tired of playing PS4 games on my PS5 and GT7, HFW, GoWR all look like enhanced PS4 games to me rather than next gen blockbusters. I hope I'm wrong though.

Trust me, you are wrong. Cross gen means nothing if you're referring to just graphics alone....most games today don't even compare to The Last of Us 2. Sony's output is usually years ahead of most other devs. Horizon and God of War will be competitive graphically to pretty much anything this year.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

I know that metacritic is lower but i really think that days gone is not a worse game than tsushima or DS.

They all have merits and flaws, i had more fun with days gone than the other 2.

DS had the kojima push and all the big name actors in the cast, and tsushima was the samurai AC game that people was desiring for years with an incredible art design, days gone was out when zombie and sons of anarchy weren't the hot shit anymore and it was always shitted on and doubted about by everyone since his first reveal.

And at least on pro, it was far from unplayeable, it was less bugged than any ac game at launch, but i saw the framerate on the ps4 base console and it was a bit rough, not gonna lie (but ac games have the same slowdown and they are more glitchy in general), base console were too shit for these open world games, and days gone has far for shit on screen than tsushima and ds combined, anmd it still managed to look as good as those 2 (inferior in some things, superior in others)

You make a great point about timing here. The popularity of Son's on Anarchy and The walking dead have waned. And clearly that was the impetus of the game to have a character that made players think Daryl or Jax teller. Fast forward another 4-6 years and what does the landscape look like for zombie games and a biker show that has long-lived itself popularity? Why Sony even green lit a 2nd AAA zombie game out of its own studios is beyond me.

Are there any other high-profile games where Sony has competed with itself?

There are so many more genres out there that sony needs to be tackling before doubling down.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

Maybe not the digital version, but on disc it was below 40 bucks before christmas 2020.

I mean if you want to talk physical days gone was 20 dollars on disc by November of its release year and 40 bucks on disc by the end of month 1...

 

[Matt_Fox]

Days Gone was a brilliant game and imagine how epic the swarms could be with the power of a next gen system. We need a sequel!

 

[Mibu no ookami]

Trust me, you are wrong. Cross gen means nothing if you're referring to just graphics alone....most games today don't even compare to The Last of Us 2. Sony's output is usually years ahead of most other devs. Horizon and God of War will be competitive graphically to pretty much anything this year.

I want games that literally can't be done on the previous console generation.

I'm not seeing that anymore and with cross gen, that feeling is just dead. I'm just not sold by slightly better graphics, LOD, textures e.t.c.

The only thing that has kept its promise to me this gen has been loading times, which is why I still hold out hope that GT7 will feel next gen, if it has no loading times.

 

[underwater]

It's a good game. The story and characters were a bit cringe but the basic gameplay loop was surprisingly fun once you get into the game proper. Riding around on the motorbike and taking on hordes was enjoyable. I didn't use fast-travel that much because I actually enjoyed getting from A to B and that's not something you can say about every open world game.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

Days Gone is so low on my priority list even though it is free.

I'm not interested in a game that lumbers through 40-60 hours and doesn't get good for 10+ hours.

Like here I am waiting to buy Cuphead and hoping Last Guardian gets a 4K60 patch and that Shadow of the Colossus gets a 4K60 patch.

Here I am wondering whether I should buy Demon's Souls as my first Souls game, despite hearing that it doesn't have much in terms of story and rather just lore. Here I am thinking about buying GT7 when it comes out, but only if it feels next gen and wondering if I should buy the GT7 wheel and if I do should I buy the clutch and shifter separately?

How I'm going to wait for the Uncharted Collection to hit PS+ for free.

Wondering how much time I'm going to spend on the new version of PS+ if it let's you play PS1-3 classics.

But Days Gone? It'll be a miracle if I ever play it and it wouldn't cost me a thing...

Honorable mentions: Will I finish Mass Effect Trilogy? Will I buy Deadspace remake?

 

[Gameplaylover]

I mean if you want to talk physical days gone was 20 dollars on disc by November of its release year and 40 bucks on disc by the end of month 1...

I know. Most AAA games drop fast, some just faster than others. Sony's AAAs usally have have very hugh budget + insane marketing, so they have to keep them selling and since they are not Nintendo they have to do it by price.

 

[sncvsrtoip]

days gone was one of best looking ue4 games, dg2 on ue5 would be probably awsome

 

[MrTentakel]

It´s certainly not for everyone but Days Gone is one of my favorite games last gen.
It was a hot mess at launch. There are severe pacing issues but the game does a lot right.
Would love some story DLC.

They lost me when they started to attack the consumers ("There is not second game because YOU didn`t buy full price")

-> Don`t release a broken game and complain about bad reception and people not buying your slideshow at full price!

 

[sncvsrtoip]

Death Stranding recently sold 5 million as well. Absolutely insane management by Sony not greenlighting sequels for these two games right away. Had they begun dev on those games right away they wouldve already been in dev for 2+ years with a potential release maybe next year. now, we are looking at 2025 at best from both Kojima and Sony bend.

I remember when they greenlit an Uncharted sequel even though it sold 111k in NA in its first month and topped out at 650k. Now, 5-10 million isnt enough. 100+ goty awards for Death Stranding isnt enough. Absolutely shocking display of incompetency by Sony's upper management. And I am looking right at Herman and Jim here. They both took charge around 2019 and thats when these decisions were made.

imo death stranding doesn't need sequel, it was quite closed story opposite to days gone, btw if rumored man in black sell less than days gone should sony close bend studio ? ;d

 

[Papacheeks]

days gone was one of best looking ue4 games, dg2 on ue5 would be probably awsome

They are using Unreal. Days Gone had its issues, and I would like to continue the story if it focused more on the motorcycle gang stuff. But I can't lie in terms of world being interesting its, better than most third party open world games in terms of connected/realized world. But it's still not that intersting. SO I'm glad they are working on new IP. Days gone PC sales just helps out support the studio. I think Garvin bumped heads a lot, I dont know about Jeff. He seems bitter and it sounds like Sony specifically the change over to Herman and Jim Ryan kind of broke communications or seeing eye to eye. Sucks but what do you do? Game was super discounted within couple months. So obviously in terms of its perception it was a cult game, but I think moving on and learning from what they built is the best action.

 

[sncvsrtoip]

They are using Unreal. Days Gone had its issues, and I would like to continue the story if it focused more on the motorcycle gang stuff. But I can't lie in terms of world being interesting its, better than most third party open world games in terms of connected/realized world. But it's still not that intersting. SO I'm glad they are working on new IP. Days gone PC sales just helps out support the studio. I think Garvin bumped heads a lot, I dont know about Jeff. He seems bitter and it sounds like Sony specifically the change over to Herman and Jim Ryan kind of broke communications or seeing eye to eye. Sucks but what do you do? Game was super discounted within couple months. So obviously in terms of its perception it was a cult game, but I think moving on and learning from what they built is the best action.

game got mixed reception, for me was one of best game past generation, bend studio now use decima engine

 

[T0minator]

They lost me when they started to attack the consumers ("There is not second game because YOU didn`t buy full price")

-> Don`t release a broken game and complain about bad reception and people not buying your slideshow at full price!

It's less of a "they" said to buy it at full price and more of a "he" said buy it at full price. John Garvin the games ex director said it after he was let go from the company

 

[Papacheeks]

game got mixed reception, for me was one of best game past generation, bend studio now use decima engine

Where is your information on Decima use?

Looked it up and yea back in June rumors point to it being Decima now? Makes sense in terms of support.

 

[Clear]

They lost me when they started to attack the consumers ("There is not second game because YOU didn`t buy full price")

That's not an attack on consumers, its a statement of fact.

Let's set this to rest, once and for all:

Corporate creatives can't do shit without financing.
Corporate finance only cares about profit and loss.
So, if the initial determination is that the product isn't going to turn as much profit as desired, (low launch sales) finance isn't going to release more funding, and the next project dies.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

imo death stranding doesn't need sequel, it was quite closed story opposite to days gone, btw if rumored man in black sell less than days gone should sony close bend studio ? ;d

I could always be wrong be Men in Black just seems like a horrible IP to jump on board with right now.

The franchise hasn't been relevant in years. They came out with a new movie and it flopped just two years ago.

That isn't to say a game can't be successful, but Men in Black also doesn't seem to translate well to gaming. Erasing someone's memory in a game doesn't carry the same weight that it does in real life. What does erasing an NPC's character's memory accomplish?

Open world? To what end?

Like none of it makes sense to me and I'm wondering if it turns out to be true whether Bend was saddled with this because it's one of the few IP Sony Pictures owns and it's cheaper to jump on this IP than something external to Sony or say Marvel who would want a more prominent team working on.

 

[kyliethicc]

I know that metacritic is lower but i really think that days gone is not a worse game than tsushima or DS.

They all have merits and flaws, i had more fun with days gone than the other 2.

DS had the kojima push and all the big name actors in the cast, and tsushima was the samurai AC game that people was desiring for years with an incredible art design, days gone was out when zombie and sons of anarchy weren't the hot shit anymore and it was always shitted on and doubted about by everyone since his first reveal.

And at least on pro, it was far from unplayeable, it was less bugged than any ac game at launch, but i saw the framerate on the ps4 base console and it was a bit rough, not gonna lie (but ac games have the same slowdown and they are more glitchy in general), base console were too shit for these open world games, and days gone has far for shit on screen than tsushima and ds combined, anmd it still managed to look as good as those 2 (inferior in some things, superior in others)

Yeah Bend did a good job for a first try. They're not a huge studio, and had come from making Vita games.

Unfortunately, it got bad reviews, took 6-7 years to make, and went far over budget. And yeah it was always bound to be Sony's other zombie game. But clearly its lifetime sales are very good. So they've probably made Sony enough money. Hopefully their next game will be even better and more successful.

 

[sncvsrtoip]

Where is your information on Decima use?

Looked it up and yea back in June rumors point to it being Decima now? Makes sense in terms of support.

it's not confirmed info but leak from one of David Jaffe's streams

 

[Superwave]

That salt. At least be glad an average game did good sales.

A sequel would have been milking it for the wrong reasons. I have it free for PS+ but still not tried it.

Days Gone 2 - is that a title anyone would be looking forward to? Tie up an entire studio for the next 3 years for that? A console seller? A headline grabber? No. Sony made the right call, this dude should have made a better game.

 

[kyliethicc]

Where is your information on Decima use?

Looked it up and yea back in June rumors point to it being Decima now? Makes sense in terms of support.

Last year, davidjaffe said someone at Sony told him Bend are now using Guerrilla's engine.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

That's not an attack on consumers, its a statement of fact.

Let's set this to rest, once and for all:

Corporate creatives can't do shit without financing.
Corporate finance only cares about profit and loss.
So, if the initial determination is that the product isn't going to turn as much profit as desired, (low launch sales) finance isn't going to release more funding, and the next project dies.

It is an attack because it shifts the blame on the game's lack of success on the consumers when the developers bear much of the fault. They know the game was released in poor condition to developers and released in poor condition to initial consumers.

They also know the game shouldn't have been 60 hours long. Garvin just didn't want to edit himself and to Sony's credit, they didn't force him to cut the game down to a more manageable and consumable 15-20 hours and say, save the rest for a sequel.

 

[Papacheeks]

Last year, davidjaffe said someone at Sony told him Bend are now using Guerrilla's engine.

Yea, saw that. I wonder if the change internally is for ease of PC porting, and support wise its easier to get help on the endine. What did Golden Abyss run on?

 

[kyliethicc]

Yea, saw that. I wonder if the change internally is for ease of PC porting, and support wise its easier to get help on the endine.

Would be cheaper for Sony compared to using Unreal. And its obviously an equally good engine for open world games.

Bend would essentially get to create their own engine using Guerrilla's as a starting base. Can't do that with UE cuz Epic.

But I doubt Unreal is hard to port to PC - its like the most used engine for multiplats.

What did Golden Abyss run on?

Idk

 

[Mibu no ookami]

Yea, saw that. I wonder if the change internally is for ease of PC porting, and support wise its easier to get help on the endine. What did Golden Abyss run on?

Decima certainly isn't ideal for PC porting compared to UE4, certainly cheaper though.

 

[JerryinSoCal]

I've said all I need to in a long rant about DG2, but as I mentioned in that post, I think you also had rumblings about money given to kojima productions instead of internal studios.

Shu is also responsible for a lot of failures too. Japan cratered under his leadership. Bloodborne was not a huge hit, Last Guardian was a debacle, Gran Turismo hasn't been the predominant franchise it once was. Not a single hit out of Japan out of Shu.

Separately the Order was also a failure, Drive Club, the whole relationship with Quantic Dream didn't work out ending with Detroit Become Human.

The failure of Days Gone and Death Stranding probably had quite a bit to do with Shu essentially being demoted. Note he stepped down the day before Death Stranding was released.

Not saying Herman has proven his success, but they probably want a higher percentage of hits, especially as budgets continue to increase and games become riskier. Herman is probably more likely to say no to a game than Shu was, but expecting that Herman would have more games released by now given when he got the job and ignoring the pandemic is probably misplaced. Herman has literally been the boss for 2 years, when games can take anywhere from 4-5+ years to make.

Also his interest in partnerships with companies like Jade Raymond are low risk high reward, which is exactly what you need when you're making games like the LOU2 and giving devs carte blanch to take risks with big budget games that don't always result in profits. A balanced portfolio is what you're looking for. Not everything can big AAA high-risk high budget.

I'm not a huge fan of Bloodborne but it sold as well as any Dark Souls game has on a PlayStation console if not better, it sold over 2 million copies in its first 6 months and more importantly it beat Sony's expectations. Quantic Dream worked out fine, their deal was only for a specific number of titles and Sony didn't want to extend because of some shady things QD was being accused of internally.

 

[MrTentakel]

That's not an attack on consumers, its a statement of fact.

Let's set this to rest, once and for all:

Corporate creatives can't do shit without financing.
Corporate finance only cares about profit and loss.
So, if the initial determination is that the product isn't going to turn as much profit as desired, (low launch sales) finance isn't going to release more funding, and the next project dies.

This is a statement of fact:
You want to secure your financing for the next project: DO NOT RELEASE A BROKEN GAME

 

[JerryinSoCal]

That salt. At least be glad an average game did good sales.

A sequel would have been milking it for the wrong reasons. I have it free for PS+ but still not tried it.

Days Gone 2 - is that a title anyone would be looking forward to? Tie up an entire studio for the next 3 years for that? A console seller? A headline grabber? No. Sony made the right call, this dude should have made a better game.

I loved the first game and would really like a sequel at some point, I also preordered the first one and played it on the Pro so my experience was a little better than that of a standard PS4 owner I guess.

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

I'd be bitter too if I made a game that sold almost ten million copies and then my corporate daddy treated me as if I made a worthless piece of shit. Try empathy for once.

Days Gone was having its first discounts just weeks after release and it never went back to its original price. By the time it was 6 months old you could find it at 30 or 20 dollars even at PS Store if i remember it right.
Those first few months were rough for the game. You make more money on release then selling your game, a huge AAA title, for 20 dollars.

Plus, this studio deserves better than its Wallmart version of The Last of Us...also everyone wants new IPs so here's something new.

 

[Superwave]

I loved the first game and would really like a sequel at some point, I also preordered the first one and played it on the Pro so my experience was a little better than that of a standard PS4 owner I guess.

As a Sony exec are you going to greenlight another Days Gone when you have TLOU? Surprised the original got greenlit in the first place. Credit to Sony for that but Bend had their chance, sometimes once is enough.

Let's see what else Bend can do with this experience under their belt. I think that's the right call. This Jeff guy is salty his one "success" got "cancelled". It is an average game from any angle and it launching in a sorry state was the killer blow they dealt themselves.

 

[Clear]

It is an attack because it shifts the blame on the game's lack of success on the consumers when the developers bear much of the fault. They know the game was released in poor condition to developers and released in poor condition to initial consumers.

No its not an attack, its just stating the consequences of what the "wait for a sale" mentality results in. Its all about money.

Noone wants to release a game in a rough or unfinished state, it only happens because the bean-counters demand that it gets out the door on a certain day and date. You can't negotiate against this when marketing spend is in play - they have committed to it and come hell or high water you have to deliver something,
You can scramble to try and fix as much as you can, as soon as you can, but the horse has left the barn.

Bend worked diligently on improving Days Gone for years after launch, adding content, squashing bugs, improving performance. Everything was offered for free with zero additional mtx or monetization. You really cannot ask for better support than they gave.

BUT. At the end of the day a few weeks or days after launch those very same suits that forced the game to release are going to look at the sales and give a thumbs-up or thumbs-down as to whether they feel like it was a profitable venture. If people held fire and played the waiting game then you are basically telling them thumbs down. Its really that simple.

You assume that the devs have more power and control than they have.

They also know the game shouldn't have been 60 hours long. Garvin just didn't want to edit himself and to Sony's credit, they didn't force him to cut the game down to a more manageable and consumable 15-20 hours and say, save the rest for a sequel.

I disagree. I loved the game so much that after finishing it 100% for the first time I immediately started over and replayed it all over again.
To me, the game was just fun as hell to play. I found the minute-to-minute just really engaging, I liked the story, the characters, everything basically. Its got such an old-school vibe to it.

 

[Valt7786]

Seems to me a lot of people forget that Days Gone was Bends first "BIG" game, they're previous stuff was PSP syphon filters and other not so hot stuff. Then they get compared to giants like Santa monica or Naughty dog. For a studio's first "AAA" game, Days Gone is fucking great. Was it perfect, no, obviously but it could have been a shit load worse too.
Not giving them a second chance on a sequel is a travesty. Especially if it turns out they got put on this Men in Black turd that the rumours are saying.

 

[Hunnybun]

i bought ghost of Tsushima last holiday on a Steep sale digitally from the store so this is incorrect.

The whole argument reeks of bullshit, at least without a detailed comparison.

Sony heavily discounted all their games last gen, fairly soon after launch and then frequently thereafter. I got Spider-Man, their biggest single seller, for about 40% off 3 months after launch. It was just par for the course back then.

Also, people need to consider that even if ALL the sales were at half price, that's STILL equivalent to like 5m sales or so. And even that's reasonably good for a new IP from a small studio making their first AAA game.

 

[deriks]

People say that Nintendo fans are dumb because they buy everything Nintendo sells, well, Sonyboys are worse because of this

Seriously, Days Gone is a dull broken ass game. Has potential thou

 

[SilentUser]

Congratulations! Good game, though I really wished it wasn't that long.

 

[oldergamer]

In the US it was in the top sellers for 2019 in the NPD charts right behind games like Resident Evil 2, Pokemon Sword, and Luigi's Mansion 3 all of which we know sold very well at high prices. Those charts are sorted by revenue not units sold. So evidently it sold quite a bit at a high price that first year.

Now did it sell the majority at full price? No. Probably around 2-3 million which for a new IP is pretty darn good. Sony just cares more about what some journalists think.

It doesnt matter if it was a top seller. I recall it being in the bargin bin very quickly. It probably had 75% of its sales numbers when it was discounted.

Publishers only drop price when sales velocity slows or stops completely.

We also dont know what it cost sony to develop.

 

[JaksGhost]

It doesnt matter if it was a top seller. I recall it being in the bargin bin very quickly. It probably had 75% of its sales numbers when it was discounted.

Publishers only drop price when sales velocity slows or stops completely.

We also dont know what it cost sony to develop.

What we do know is that Sony footed the bill on a game that took 8 years to develop just to turn out mediocre at best.

 

[Caio]

And we are still getting a Remake of The Last of Us instead of Days Gone 2... only a thought, I might understand Sony prioritizes a franchise that has been more productive, but if you ask me, it's a real shame not to have a sequel to Days Gone.