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[Bo_Hazem]

Death Stranding was more original. Liked DG more but Death Stranding is something we need more, innovation and unique experiences.

 

[kyliethicc]

 

[Papacheeks]

Can't wait. I loved his last couple Jaffe did with JEFF AND John. John seems like a fun guy.

 

[Hugare]

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.
It was unpolished at launch, but It was also a big, ambitious open world game from a relatively small Studio that spent the past two generations making portable game. And still, they made the most impressive open world game came out from UE4 and , in general, one of the most technically ambitiuos game made in that engine.
...and tour argument Is that they haven't been fucked by the critica, because the game was average as proved by Metacritic score and Goty awards? Are you serious?

Ok, so people bought the game with a big discount to check it out when most bugs were already fixed and thats why their perception was good

Doesnt change the fact that it was a buggy mess at launch and that reflect on the Metacritic score

To say that the reason why it sits at 71 MC is because critics wanted to fuck with it, when the game was released in that sorry state, while every other Sony first party title are released polished as a diamond, is just a sore loser argument, yes

I played it at launch, hated the game. Tried playing it again 3 more times many months (and years) later when it was already "good", but still hated it

 

[Kokoloko85]

Meh, really was a dropdown in quality compared to the other Playstation studios output.

Combat was meh, whereas GOT, Horizon, God of War, Spiderman, Uncharted was fun.

And I just wasnt feeling it, tried a few times but it didnt capture me at all

 

[TheGodfather07]

Meh, really was a dropdown in quality compared to the other Playstation studios output.

Combat was meh, whereas GOT, Horizon, God of War, Spiderman, Uncharted was fun.

And I just wasnt feeling it, tried a few times but it didnt capture me at all

People acting like sony are shunning god of war or something. If you ask me for either days gone 2 or a new Ip, I will choose new ip easily. I wouldn't mind a days gone sequel after that.

 

[Ywap]

As a PC only gamer it was my goty 2021

1. Days Gone 10
2. Resident Evil Village 9
3. Halo Infinite 8.5

So yes, Days Gone needs a sequel

 

[rolandss]

This game was ok but I got bored with it before finishing it. It’s the setting. The whole post apocalypse USA/zombies feels so done, I just wasn’t invested in the story at all. It wasn’t a compelling game. Doesn’t deserve a sequel. When I think about the best games in played on last gen, this game doesn’t rate at all.

 

[Rivet]

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.

Sony cares about quality first, not sales. Days Gone got destroyed by the critics, maybe a bit unfairly due to technical issues at launch, there's no way Sony would have greenlighted a sequel.

Days Gone also suffered from Zombie fatigue. It released too late : multiple games and TV shows involving zombies had already been released, so timing was off.

 

[Mercenary09]

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.

Again since you don't know how to read, it was right behind Luigi's Mansion 3, Resident Evil 2, and Pokemon Sword in revenue (not sales) for the entire year of 2019. I don't think I need to tell you that Luigi and Pokemon weren't exactly discounted games. So for Days Gone to be right behind those $60 games in terms of revenue that means it must have sold a bunch of copies at a high price point too.

 

[SkylineRKR]

I loved it to bits but didn't play it until it was part of the PS5 Plus program.

 

[pratyush]

I played it and enjoyed it. Its not out of this world game but quite enjoyable decent game. Was unfairly criticised by critics

 

[Lupin25]

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

I agree with it being bundled with the TV show and the standalone multiplayer being cross-gen, because that’s what it began as, but here’s my predictions:

$70 TLOU, Pt. II Director’s Cut:
$30 TLOU Remake (PS4 & PS5) (the game never got an actual PS4 remake, just a remaster)
$40 TLOU, Pt. II (Remastered) (PS5) (w/improved assets, haptics, draw distance, etc.)
Free Factions, Pt. II (stand-alone too) (PS4 & PS5) (w/4P cinematic multiplayer story mode, as well? Set in the TLOU universe…)

In terms of providing 1st party “next-gen only” experiences this year?

Sony is lacking there that I believe they’re filling the void with 3rd party timed-exclusives (GhostWire Tokyo & Forspoken).

But the thing is, Sony hasn’t revealed even half of what their studios are currently working on. They could release anything the 2nd half of the year. They have multiple external exclusivity deals; Sony has Square-Enix wrapped around its finger developing FOUR exclusives (Forspoken, FF16, SOP: FFO, FF7R Pt. 2), so maybe it doesn’t matter.

Also, Days Gone ended up a solid product, but it wasn’t that from day one and that was Sony’s issue. This doesn’t mean they can’t revisit a DG2 pitch later on at some point either.

 

[WoJ]

This makes me sad. I am a huge Days Gone fan. The first game was great despite having room for improvement. It's the type of game that would really benefit from a sequel to improve upon the flaws it did have. I never pre-order games, but I'd pre-order a sequel simply to support it.

The fact that it sold over 9 million copies and still isn't getting a sequel is absurd.

 

[Calverz]

Exclusives don’t sell lol

8m+ only on PS4 is indeed awesome.

Who said exclusives don’t sell??

 

[Thirty7ven]

Seems like people still keep missing the point, the game was not very good at all at launch, is very janky, and simply not up to the standards we’ve come to expect from Sony studios.

 

[Skifi28]

I just don't see where a sequel would go without being more of the same and the majority of the characters were just meh, I don't care about seeing them again. The game already overstays its welcome towards the last third. A new IP was the better choice.

 

[Camreezie]

The reception at the beginning was pretty tepid but I do remember a lot of folks on here getting behind it after only a couple of months. If that's revisionist its damn fast revision

 

[The Cockatrice]

Death Stranding was more original. Liked DG more but Death Stranding is something we need more, innovation and unique experiences.

We need innovation and unique experiences that are good. DS was a chore. Glad some ppl enjoyed it and I thought it had some really nice ideas but it was not fun at all.

Anyway it'a shame we wont get a sequel, even more when you've seen the true ending of days gone.

Spoiler

 

[Calverz]

Death Stranding was more original. Liked DG more but Death Stranding is something we need more, innovation and unique experiences.

And this is exactly the reason why we need people like you need to criticise Sony for when they close studios like Japan! But instead we get some other bollocks about how it’s good for business or some shit!

 

[Bo_Hazem]

We need innovation and unique experiences that are good. DS was a chore. Glad some ppl enjoyed it and I thought it had some really nice ideas but it was not fun at all.

Anyway it'a shame we wont get a sequel, even more when you've seen the true ending of days gone.

Spoiler

Yes, Death Stranding side missions and interactions with others are pretty shallow outside the main characters, also going through large distances of emptiness becomes tiresome. Clearing BT areas is amazing though, especially because you get rid of them permanently with blood bombs/bullets or by cutting cords. The cooperation with others made it special especially when you get appreciated for a ladder, road, etc. It was more of an ore than a final product but the experience was very refreshing despite the infinite frustration.

And this is exactly the reason why we need people like you need to criticise Sony for when they close studios like Japan! But instead we get some other bollocks about how it’s good for business or some shit!

Japan Studio was heavily underperforming, so it's understandable, especially with merging them with a better studio in Japan. The name makes some a bit emotional, I guess. With DG it's one of my best games ever, but all these mechanics with another setup might turn out better. FC6 was just fighting humans, and it's addictive as fuck.

 

[isoRhythm]

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

Maybe because TLOU2 came out after 7 yrs of the PS4 being out? You really think 2026-27 PS5 graphics won't be impressive?

 

[Bo_Hazem]

Anyway it'a shame we wont get a sequel, even more when you've seen the true ending of days gone.

Yeah, man. That spoiler was perfect for a sequel. I would rather see a Syphon Filter as a sequel from there and have some espionage shit. I think it's about time with Snake and Fisher's retirement.

 

[kyussman]

Wow,I had no idea it had done that well.I enjoyed it a lot.....a bit crazy there is no talk of another one coming.

 

[SlimySnake]

Seems like people still keep missing the point, the game was not very good at all at launch, is very janky, and simply not up to the standards we’ve come to expect from Sony studios.

Nah I played it at launch. It was no where as buggy as AC games. I had more crashes playing returnal.

 

[DeepEnigma]

The sequel was never even close to being greenlit or worked on.

Sony didn't even read the pitch for Days Gone 2.

Well that's unfortunate. Hopefully more insight will be revealed in the podcast interview.

 

[iHaunter]

Yeah I wonder what % of those sales were when this game was like $8 though. I played it, it's alright. It's nothing special though.

 

[dotnotbot]

I remember I got Days Gone for an equivalent of 1 dollar thrown into a bundle with already discounted brand new PS4. That was a like a month after launch. Maybe it sold a lot but certainly didn't make as nuch money as they wanted.

 

[Gamerguy84]

It was the press and a combination of others.

The only fair criticism was it being janky and buggy. If games journalist actually played more than a few hours before they put a score on something it would have gotten high marks.

I fell into the trap of letting others form my opinion as well and didn't play it until PS5 came out. I don't make that mistake anymore.

Anyone who has played through it knows it takes a while to open up and usually ends up with a great experiemce.

Was kind of a shame though how it got piled on and unfairly treated for what was actually a good game.

 

[mansoor1980]

great news , hoping for a sequel

 

[yurinka]

I feel like there next game will be make or break for the studio

Nah, Days Gone is the best selling ever game of the studio. Ross also previously said DG sold more than all previous Bend Studio games combined. Over 8 millions in a year and a half (and over 10M as of now) means great sales.

Reviews weren't good but what it's important are sales specially during the early months, to get the support from the players. They did a great job going back to home console AAA games and debuting in open world games. They learnt a ton of things that they will apply in their next games.

I have been saying this many times, on the sea of thieves thread.

Launch sales matters.

You can tell me how many units you sold, I would ask you:
"most of the sales coming from launch"?

Im pretty sure it didnt sell a lot at full price dude.

We know way over 5M ('more than all the previous Bend Studio games combined') of these over 8M PS4 sales (now over 10M including PC, maybe over 11 or 12M) are from launch window months, so full priced.

Like all games, several months after launch games get discounted which has nothing to do with the game's success. I bought a physial (new, not 2nd hand) copy GoT for 32€ a few months after launch.

Days Gone was and is getting very good sales specially considering it's an exclusive game, that later got ported to PC and that was a new IP and the first open world game and the first home console big ass AAA game after many years of the studio.

Critical reception was the major disappointment that killed the chances of a sequel, not the sales.

Both directors said in their interview to Jaffe that they don't know the reasons of why the sequel wasn't greenlighted, so we don't know it. Garvin, the other director said he didn't know the reason, but he personally thought it would have been the reviews. But he had no inside info, it was only his personal guess. He left 6 days after shipping the game so wasn't involved in the pitch of the sequel and was only involved on the creative/narrative part of the game, not in the business/corportate part.

Maybe Sony simply had too much sequels under development and needed a new ip to compensate, and was ok with Days Gone's review and was ok with making a sequel some day but not at that moment, when what they needed were more new IPs instead of more sequels.

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.

Who said Sony didn't greenlight DS sequel? According to Normal Reedus they were negotiating his appearance in the sequel when the Director's Cut was going to be released and Hermen said they are very happy with DS (and well, greentlighting the DC proves they are happy with it). So seems they are working on it.

 

[Imru’ al-Qays]

Days Gone was not very good but the studio obviously has promise, it's good Sony is having them do something else.

 

[NickFire]

Ok, so people bought the game with a big discount to check it out when most bugs were already fixed and thats why their perception was good

Doesnt change the fact that it was a buggy mess at launch and that reflect on the Metacritic score

To say that the reason why it sits at 71 MC is because critics wanted to fuck with it, when the game was released in that sorry state, while every other Sony first party title are released polished as a diamond, is just a sore loser argument, yes

I played it at launch, hated the game. Tried playing it again 3 more times many months (and years) later when it was already "good", but still hated it

I would never dismiss technical issues when a game scores low, but I don’t think we should dismiss how certain journalistic circles act a times either. Rather than go down an obvious rabbit hole, I’ll just point out:

- there have been clowns with baseball hall of fame votes who don’t believe people should be elected on their first ballot and reflect that in voting.

- there’s some clown out there allowed to vote for nfl mvp who won’t vote for mvps if they aren’t nice when they aren’t playing a game where people beat the hell out of each other

 

[Mibu no ookami]

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.



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.

After the length of development time that Day's Gone already received, there isn't much more you can do about delaying it further. Saying that the game was rushed out by bean counters reveals a lack of clarity on businesses needing to pay the bills and a game that was already probably well over in development time and thus cost. They got many extensions with serious delays...

 

[Hugare]

I would never dismiss technical issues when a game scores low, but I don’t think we should dismiss how certain journalistic circles act a times either. Rather than go down an obvious rabbit hole, I’ll just point out:

- there have been clowns with baseball hall of fame votes who don’t believe people should be elected on their first ballot and reflect that in voting.

- there’s some clown out there allowed to vote for nfl mvp who won’t vote for mvps if they aren’t nice when they aren’t playing a game where people beat the hell out of each other

Do you know any other game that suffered from critics because "white male protagonist" or whatever? Give me a break

This "conspiracy" is ridiculous. The game doesnt hold a candle in terms of quality when compared to other Sony 1st party titles, it launched with lots of bugs, and received mild scores because of it (71 MC is still ok).

There was no crusade against the game at launch, dont be ridiculous.

People also tried to do the same thing with Cyberpunk at launch, saying that it was getting low scores before playing because of the transphobia thingy and etc.

Turns out that the game was a disapointment filled with bugs and the scores were justified

The comparison with NFL, just dont, dude

 

[NickFire]

The comparison with NFL, just dont, dude

Too late, already compared.

And btw, I didn’t claim a crusade occurred. I basically said both things can be true. And stand by it.

 

[A.Romero]

Haven't played Days Gone yet, it's on my backlog because I want to play it on PC and I have too many games yet to play but I have a feeling GoT is just better. I'm not surprised Days Gone sold more, Zombies are way more popular than samurai stuff. I'd bet GoT would have sold less if it wasn't a Sucker Punch game.

I might just play Days Gone from the PS Collection and get over it...

 

[DForce]

2019

United States
April NPD - #2 Days Gone (9 Days of Tracking)
May NPD - #2 Days Gone
June NPD - #10 Days Gone

Japan

Days Gone - 192.900

Comparison:
Ghost of Tsushima - 212,915
Last of Us Part II - 178,696
Bloodborne - 150,245
Spider-Man - 132,520
Uncharted 4 - 124,028
Days Gone - 114,319
Horizon - 109,739
God of War - 50,257

Spain
Days Gone - 26,000

Comparison:
Last of Us Part II - 90k
Uncharted 4 - 80k
God of War - 67k
Horizon Zero Dawn - 35k
GT Sport - 30k
Ratchet & Clank -14k
Ghost of Tsushima - ?

UK
The Last of Us Part II - 194k
Horizon: Zero Dawn - 114k
God of War - 96k
Ghost of Tsushima - 74k
Days Gone - 70k

Germany

Days Gone
April 2019 - Gold > 100K
June 2019 - Platinum > 200K

Comparison:
Horizon: Zero Dawn
March 2017 -- Platinum > 200K

Ghost of Tsushima
July 2020 - Gold > 100K
September 2020 - Platinum > 200K

God of War
April 2018 - Gold > 100k
May 2018 - Platinum > 200k

Last of Us Part II
June 2020 - Platinum > 200K
December - 2020 - Special > 500K

Marvel's Spider-Man
September 2018 - Platinum > 200K
May 2019 - Special > 500k

 

[DForce]

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.

I don't recall that and most games sell at a discount after 1-2 months because sales typically slow down. This means most copies of just about every single video game is sold at a discount.

 

[Magic Carpet]

I did not buy Days Gone it was PS+. I sat on it for a long time before needing something to play on PS4 so tried it out. I just did not like it and bailed. I assume PS+ is not included in sales numbers. But Im thinking maybe Sony knows play time saw that many like me bailed and lost interest on the franchise.

 

[Elbow Identity Shallow]

I always thought the game was OK.
For me, it was never quite as bad as some people thought it was but also never quite as good as others thought it was either, it did certainly feel like there was something missing for me although I really couldn't tell you what that was. I do have friends who absolutely loved the game though. Perhaps surprisingly there does always seem to be people streaming the game on YouTube, well maybe the surprising thing is that it often seems to be the same people who enjoy streaming really casual games.
There last console game before Days Gone was seven years before this released and even if it did sell well, we just have no idea of the history of that development and how much money was wasted over that seven years or how much over budget they were. This feller has every right to be proud of his game but of course we do only get one side of the story from him. I'm in no way suggesting that he's not being completely honest but seven years is very long time and with any production there's always going to be negatives but we have no idea what they were in this case.
I won't miss the game anyway.

 

[mckmas8808]

It's days like this, I hate Jim Ryan!

 

[Midn1ght]

Thinking about it, that secret ending with O'Brien was a really cool moment I didn't expect.

Spoiler: Secret Ending

I want a sequel now.

 

[alabtrosMyster]

This is a very good game, it deserves a sequel.

It would be better if it was not an open world game tho.

 

[rofif]

wouldn't you prefer new, maybe even more exciting title ? What's with locking studios into making sequels

 

[kittoo]

I love the game. Yes GoT is a better game (and my personal GotG), but days gone was awesome too. Dat rush from fighting a horde. Oooof.

 

[Airbus Jr]

Gran Turismo 7 will beat this number

 

[yurinka]

To say that the reason why it sits at 71 MC is because critics wanted to fuck with it, when the game was released in that sorry state, while every other Sony first party title are released polished as a diamond, is just a sore loser argument, yes

It was the press and a combination of others.

Seems that the issue was local studio management not liking DG sales, not with reviews.

It's days like this, I hate Jim Ryan!

Jim Ryan has nothing to do with greenlighting games. And in this case according according to him the issue was with local (not worlwide) studio management. Someone blocked then the DG2 pitch, the current team greenlighted their next new IP.

And this is exactly the reason why we need people like you need to criticise Sony for when they close studios like Japan! But instead we get some other bollocks about how it’s good for business or some shit!

Japan Studio was heavily underperforming, so it's understandable, especially with merging them with a better studio in Japan. The name makes some a bit emotional, I guess. With DG it's one of my best games ever, but all these mechanics with another setup might turn out better. FC6 was just fighting humans, and it's addictive as fuck.

Sony didn't close Japan Studio and didn't merge them with anyone. They restructured it to branch off its Japanese 2nd party external publishing side to now report to their global 2nd party external publishing team (which still exists and published Death Stranding Director's Cut after the restructuring) as they do in the rest of the world instead of reporting to a local team and to reorganize their internal development team reducing its size, changing its leadership (after decades of games with poor sales, bad quality and sometimes becoming heavy money sinks someone had to take responsability and to be fired and someone else had to take the lead) to focus all their other devs on their more recently productive and prestigious INTERNAL Japan Studio team: Team Asobi.

Since they are refounding the studio and since now Team Asobi was the sole focus of the studio, they rebranded it to Team Asobi. After the restructuring, both their Japanese XDEV team and Team Asobi are aggresively hiring, like the rest of Sony's gamedev teams. As an example, Team Asobi has now job positions open in eleven areas (a few months ago it was over a dozen).

 

[SlimySnake]

It's days like this, I hate Jim Ryan!

Instead of making Days Gone 2 and Death Stranding 2, Jim Ryan paid for Godfall, Deathloop, Forsaken, and Ghostwire Tokyo.

wouldn't you prefer new, maybe even more exciting title ? What's with locking studios into making sequels

Jim had them making an Uncharted spinoff that was cancelled after a year due to creative difference with ND. It's only after they wasted two years that they started making a new IP last year. The thing with sequels is that they are easy to improve and make. Had they started work on it right away, we would be seeing a release in April if the dev time was 3 years. With a new IP, we are looking at 4-5 years minimum for a 2025-2026 release. Especially with both the creative and gameplay directors leaving the studio.

 

[JaksGhost]

Instead of making Days Gone 2 and Death Stranding 2, Jim Ryan paid for Godfall, Deathloop, Forsaken, and Ghostwire Tokyo.

You really think the budget of 2 AAA games is the equivalent of 4 1-2 year exclusivity deals… You’re lost because those are two different things.