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[ShaiKhulud1989]

Look, I knda enjoyed DG on PS4 and PC, but I can perfectly see why it's not getting a franchise. And it's has nothing to do with ESG or representation. The dev cycle was too long, too expensive, and overall reception was not there to justify yet another very expensive game with meddling returns.

IIRC even Bend's devs hardly enjoyed Days Gone as a project to work on (and it was in developer's hell for years) and from I can gather Ross/Garvin duo was very hectic during the whole development. If anytrhing, Hulst or whoever at SIE still believe in Bend pretty much, they just don't believe Ross/Garvin style of managemtn.

 

[Goalus]

It's the absolute definition of mediocre on every sense of the word. I'm shocked how much love the game gets on this forum.

What's the difference to other Sony games then?

 

[onnextflix5]

We all know Sony killed it because of the white male criticism it received from the press.

 

[FunkMiller]

Days Gone felt like the most solid 7/10 game ever, so not really sure why folks would expect much more from that franchise. It was a one and done type deal.

 

[FeralEcho]

"We don't want two zombie games at the same time in our portfolio but we'll have 50 fucking hero shooters define our new era"

"I art Soony,Soony always wins baby"

 

[squarealex]

Don't care.

First time I see Days Gone, i'm always saying ("good luck to surpass Naughty Dog")

So, Sony was right, no needed second post-apo games with heavy story driven.

 

[Topher]

What's the difference to other Sony games then?

 

[Lupin25]

We all know Sony killed it because of the white male criticism it received from the press.

They probably could’ve gone back to the IP in the future if Ross didn’t bitch so much on social media.

 

[Bernardougf]

Deacon was too much of a non-pussy dude with an actual libido for helmet and modern sony.

Basically this ...Brilliant lines about bigot sandwiches are OK and 10/10 ... lines about being rode like a motorcycle is a big no no white straight man is very bad !

 

[Astray]

I'd take his estimate over whatever some neogaffer can come up with.

Actually you shouldn't because he's basically got the same access any neogaffer has, so why should he be right lmao?

 

[schaft0620]

There was Zombie fatigue when Days Gone launched and Herman wasn't in charge when Days Gone 2 wasn't greenlit.

OP, you did get this wrong and assume it was Herman, it wasn't Herman.

 

[Killer8]

I wish this guy would just shut the fuck up already.

 

[VulcanRaven]

Not wanting two zombie franchises is understandable. I was thinking that when Days Gone was announced. Even the environment looked like The Last of Us.

 

[GHound]

Actually you shouldn't because he's basically got the same access any neogaffer has, so why should he be right lmao?

Yeah I mean we're all gamers here so we've definitely all gotten bent by a studio before.
We probably all have that one guy we know who's bending as we speak too.

 

[NeverYouMind]

Don't care.

First time I see Days Gone, i'm always saying ("good luck to surpass Naughty Dog")

So, Sony war right, no needed second post-apo games with heavy story driven.

Days Gone adventure style open world trumps the handholding linear level design of The Last of Us. Days Gone has better written characters, world building, and scenarios. The gameplay is more varied and reactive. Also, I don't think it gets enough credit for making groups of zombies overwhelming instead of a Dynasty Warriors-tier gauntlet like every other game in existence. None of these games are perfect like some would have you believe, but I think the high points of solving practical problems in a post-apocalyptic zombie landscape trump a sightseeing tour with marks to waste.

 

[Dr. Claus]

I do when he's posting stupid shit on Twitter, and don't get me started on when he's trying to drag Death Stranding into the conversation.

I don’t see him “trying to drag” Death Stranding into anything. He made a factual statement. Days Gone sold better than DS, but DS gets a sequel.

 

[Bradamante3D]

According to Ross, Hermen Hulst’s “bias” was purely because of PlayStation’s portfolio given they already have a zombie game in Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us, why would they need a lesser-performing title.

While I have no doubt Ross knows quite a number of people at his former studio at Bend, the $250-million figure is still something not publicly revealed or confirmed by Sony, and as such, shouldn’t be taken as an official development budget.

And rightfully so. Days Gone clashes too much with TLOU (remember how some people thought the universes would be linked?). People bought Days Gone mostly while waiting for TLOU Pt 2 and used Days Gone as a holdover.

The $250 million figure however is probably development + marketing. Never ever did only the development of that game cost this number.

 

[Fake]

Sony is wasting money and time with GaaS. Sony will soon know the end.

Sad times not seeing a Days Gone sequel.

 

[DeepEnigma]

But good ole Hermie wants 10 Aloy games!

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

This guy is definitely lying. How do I know? Because it doesn't align with what I want to believe.

PlayStation might have said 2 years in a row that they're spending considerably more on Live Service games than SP games but no way are they making an expensive Live Service game.

My preferences above all else.

 

[proandrad]

Sony should give this guy 250million dollars to shut the fuck up. Take your L fam, Days Gone 2 aint going to happen.

 

[adamsapple]

What's the difference to other Sony games then?

But good ole Hermie wants 10 Aloy games!

(the Aloy face model is pretty cute irl)

 

[DeepEnigma]

Eyes Wide Shut vibes.

 

[Fafalada]

Sad times not seeing a Days Gone sequel.

I mean - all the GaaS arguments aside - why with every new game it's the players that demand it being turned into some mega-franchise spanning decades of sequels?
What happened to appreciating originality for its own sake? Now that I think about it - barely any IPs escaped this in past 2 decades - even critical/commercial bombs got sequels more often than not - like the world is objectively a worse place for that Shadow Of Mordor sequel.

Granted DG isn't up there with the most celebrated one-offs, but does anyone really need more of it? Like with Order 1866 - it's a one and done thing - I'd much rather have studio focus on something new and original again next rather than revisit existing mediocrity.

 

[RoboFu]

Oh the new ceos already think they know better..

 

[yurinka]

Yet SIE still released Rise of the Ronin almost 4 years after Ghost of Tsushima.
I felt for the man in 2021, now he's clearly STILL butthurt about it to the point of obviously making shit up, LOL at the poster thing.

Hermen wasn't the head of PS Studios when GoT, Rise of the Ronin were greenlighted, or when Days Gone 2 was going to be pitched to PS Studios (around early 2019, around DG1 release). Back then the PS Studios (SIE WWS back then) head was Shuhei Yoshida, with Shawn Layden as chairman. Hermen became head of PS Studios in November. But according to Ross never was pitched to them because local management inside Bend blocked it, not the PS Studios or SIE heads.

Besides that, after making some market research they could have seen that maybe they had enough market for two open world samurai IPs but not for three or four zombie games (remember that in 2019 they were working on TLOU2 but also branched out TLOU Online making it another game and just had released Days Gone).

Also, Hermen & Ryan did include Days Gone in the PS Plus Collection (was some sort of their"best of PS4" selection), ported DG to PC and started to make a movie about it. Meaning, they kept supporting the game/IP.

We also now that they have been transitioning to have around half of the projects under development being new IP and around half being existing IPs. And back then in 2019 they were working on many sequels, so maybe at that point specifically they thought that it was better to have a new IP instead of another sequel.

So who knows, maybe in the future after this new IP, or before if they grow enough to have a 2nd team, they could do a Days Gone sequel. If having zombies is seen as an issue in market research they can always tweak the enemies to make them less zombie-like. They can use whatever they want, as could be rival biker gangs, military robots/drones, cyborg soldiers, mutant predator animals, aliens, PC fanboys angry for having to spend half a minute creating a PSN user or whatever they consider that can attack in a horde/pack.

 

[Lokaum D+]

Great game despite its flaws, one of the last Sony games that i bought.

 

[Physiognomonics]

(the Aloy face model is pretty cute irl)

Too cute apparently to be used in a modern videogame. They had to make her uglier.

 

[nial]

That had everything to do with filling up this barren year for PS5 first party games.

Not how it works.

I don’t see him “trying to drag” Death Stranding into anything. He made a factual statement. Days Gone sold better than DS, but DS gets a sequel.

The problem comes when people assume Sony has a bias for Kojima, and that is clearly not the case.
SCEI made a deal with KPCL, a newly establised studio, in December 2015, Death Stranding was shown in June 2016, and the project went gold in September 2019, so less than 4 years for a big new AAA IP.. It's a very healthy production relationship (hence why we're seeing DS2 and Physint), a harsh contrast to Days Gone's troubled development of 7+ years, that ALSO came in hot at launch.

Hermen wasn't the head of PS Studios when GoT, Rise of the Ronin were greenlighted, or when Days Gone 2 was going to be pitched to PS Studios (around early 2019, around DG1 release). Back then the PS Studios (SIE WWS back then) head was Shuhei Yoshida, with Shawn Layden as chairman. Hermen became head of PS Studios in November. But according to Ross never was pitched to them because local management inside Bend blocked it, not the PS Studios or SIE heads.

Rise of the Ronin didn't really start full production after Nioh 2 back in early 2020, so WWS (under Hermen Hulst) could have pretty much shelved it if they felt that there was a clash in their portfolio. But yes, you're pretty much right with the rest. If anything, Jeff Ross is being oddly inconsistent with his statements.

 

[gothmog]

I love DG threads, where people conveniently forget it was panned pretty hard at launch and required a ton of patches to get to where it is. I really enjoyed the game once patched, but it took a while to get there.

 

[JaksGhost]

All he does is echo what he sees and hears online with no concrete source. In his interview with Jaffe he said PlayStation higher ups never even heard the pitch because it was shut down internally. The numbers he got was from an online source that tracked trophies. He was flaunting around that 9 million number when he was off by 2 million according to the Insomniac leaks. Hell the picture he tried to use as Sony erasing the game wasn’t even one that they did themselves but a fan edit. He may be pissed but he will never be envolved with the IP ever again and Sony too with how he is online. This is also another example of why you guys need to support upfront and not years down the lane. Playing a game 2-3 years later after patches, PC mods, etc doesn’t do shit to help a game get greenlit and now you’re stuck calling Sony the devil for you arriving too late.

 

[Alphagear]

Not how it works.

That’s exactly how it works.

Sony didn’t find out yesterday they have no major first party exclusives coming this year which is exactly why you see these 3rd party deals. Stellar Blade being another which was originally Multiplatform then confirmed lager that Sony will be publishing it.

Even in Sony own words they have said no major exclusives this year from first party. Astro Bot, Helldivers and Concord don’t count.

 

[JaksGhost]

That’s exactly how it works.

Sony didn’t find out yesterday they have no major first party exclusives coming this year which is exactly why you see these 3rd party deals. Stellar Blade being another which was originally Multiplatform then confirmed lager that Sony will be publishing it.

Even in Sony own words they have said no major exclusives this year from first party. Astro Bot, Helldivers and Concord don’t count.

They said from major established franchises. That seems to always be omitted to push a narrative.

 

[bitbydeath]

All he does is echo what he sees and hears online with no concrete source. In his interview with Jaffe he said PlayStation higher ups never even heard the pitch because it was shut down internally. The numbers he got was from an online source that tracked trophies. He was flaunting around that 9 million number when he was off by 2 million according to the Insomniac leaks. Hell the picture he tried to use as Sony erasing the game wasn’t even one that they did themselves but a fan edit. He may be pissed but he will never be envolved with the IP ever again and Sony too with how he is online. This is also another example of why you guys need to support upfront and not years down the lane. Playing a game 2-3 years later after patches, PC mods, etc doesn’t do shit to help a game get greenlit and now you’re stuck calling Sony the devil for you arriving too late.

Sony also greenlit a Days Gone movie and praised it on numerous occasions as one of their best franchises.

Unless he believes Sony is bipolar, they don’t hate it.

 

[Alphagear]

They said from major established franchises. That seems to always be omitted to push a narrative.

There’s no narrative here other than to point out Rise of the Ronin was only Moneyhatted because 2024 for PS5 is barebones. Even though Sony have Tsushima. Rise of the Ronin is not a Sony IP either.

It’s not the same as Days Gone 2 not being greenlighted because Sony reckon 1 Zombie franchise is enough.

How posters have found an equivalence and hypocrisy on Sonys part is nonsense.

 

[WoJ]

Game was great. Those claiming it was mediocre are just wrong. I'm incredibly disappointed we aren't getting a sequel. There was a ton to build on in a sequel. And that cliffhanger gave you all kinds of options not just for a sequel, but a franchise.

 

[yurinka]

Rise of the Ronin didn't really start full production after Nioh 2 back in early 2020, so WWS (under Hermen Hulst) could have pretty much shelved it if they felt that there was a clash in their portfolio. But yes, you're pretty much right with the rest. If anything, Jeff Ross is being oddly inconsistent with his statements.

Not true. According to the Team Ninja president Rise of the Ronin's development started in 2015, around 9 years long. And had the support/publishing/production of Japan Studio's XDEV Japanese team (who continued working on it after they got their own office separate from the Japan Studio internal development team). Which means Shuhei Yoshida greenlighted it.

Sept. 2022:
Here at Team Ninja, we are incredibly excited to introduce our very latest action RPG game which takes you on an epic and unfettered journey as a Ronin at the dawn of a new era in Japan. It was seven years ago when we first began this project. And since then, the development has progressed slowly and freely, much like the spirit of a Ronin. It is with great pleasure to finally bring this title to light, and we are filled with gratitude on being able to make this announcement with with PlayStation who have supported us and this project throughout these many years.

But yes, Hermen could have cancelled it, but as happened with Helldivers 2 and its 8 years of development, he decided to gave them all the time they needed to release their game instead.

 

[nial]

Not true. According to the Team Ninja president Rise of the Ronin's development started in 2015, around 9 years long.

That's why I said 'full production', Fumihiko Yasuda was busy with Nioh 2 until 2020.

 

[Fake]

I mean - all the GaaS arguments aside - why with every new game it's the players that demand it being turned into some mega-franchise spanning decades of sequels?
What happened to appreciating originality for its own sake? Now that I think about it - barely any IPs escaped this in past 2 decades - even critical/commercial bombs got sequels more often than not - like the world is objectively a worse place for that Shadow Of Mordor sequel.

Granted DG isn't up there with the most celebrated one-offs, but does anyone really need more of it? Like with Order 1866 - it's a one and done thing - I'd much rather have studio focus on something new and original again next rather than revisit existing mediocrity.

Days Gone is a good game. Not the best. And seeing IPs getting lost in favor of GaaS is quite sad.
For me is a game between 7,5 and 8. Not every game need to be a GOTY material.

Not to mention seeing TLOUS fans shitting what the Days Gone director is saying and he is not wrong.

Since launch of the PS5 ND did absolutly nothing but remasters and remakes. And even cancel a multiplayer. Now people want to believe they need only one zombie game when in TLOUSpart2 you pass more than half of your game facing human?


I mean, people can hate whatever they want, I still prefer games like GoT, Days Gone, Killzone, Driveclub and others to get a second chance rather than wasting tons of money into live service.

 

[nial]

That’s exactly how it works.

Sony didn’t find out yesterday they have no major first party exclusives coming this year which is exactly why you see these 3rd party deals. Stellar Blade being another which was originally Multiplatform then confirmed lager that Sony will be publishing it.

Even in Sony own words they have said no major exclusives this year from first party. Astro Bot, Helldivers and Concord don’t count.

They found out in 2015 and 2021 respectively?
BTW, Rise of the Ronin was released in FY 2023, the same one that saw the release of Spider-Man 2 (and Helldivers 2).

 

[yurinka]

That's why I said 'full production', Fumihiko Yasuda was busy with Nioh 2 until 2020.

Still nonsensical. Preproduction in AAA games takes around half a year, sometimes a few months more or less. But not 5 years.

If he said they started in 2015, pretty likely he means they started production in 2015. And if he meant they started preproduction in 2015, they started production in 2015 or 2016. Not 2020 at all.

 

[Raven117]

It was unexpectedly great. Imo the characters were very well written. They were all broken and flawed, but each had their redeeming qualities.

I wasn’t expecting much, but I totally dug it.

 

[Alphagear]

They found out in 2015 and 2021 respectively?
BTW, Rise of the Ronin was released in FY 2023, the same one that saw the release of Spider-Man 2 (and Helldivers 2).

Rise of the Rōnin is a 2024 action-role playing game developed by Koei Tecmo's Team Ninja and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The game was released for the PlayStation 5 on 22 March 2024.

Fiscal Year lol. We are gamers not shareholders.

 

[nial]

Still nonsensical. Preproduction in AAA games takes around half a year, sometimes a few months more or less. But not 5 years.

If he said they started in 2015, pretty likely he means they started production in 2015. And if he meant they started preproduction in 2015, they started production in 2015 or 2016. Not 2020 at all.

It's not, pre-production can vary due to different factors; project scope, prototyping, budget, and/or studio focus.
Either way, it's too much derailing, I'll leave it there.

Rise of the Rōnin is a 2024 action-role playing game developed by Koei Tecmo's Team Ninja and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The game was released for the PlayStation 5 on 22 March 2024.

Fiscal Year lol. We are gamers not shareholders.

What kind of year do you think Sony was referring to, smooth brain?

Sony Will Not Release Any New Major Existing PlayStation Franchise Titles Before April 2025 - IGN

Sony has said it will not release any major existing PlayStation franchise games before April 2025.

www.ign.com

 

[yurinka]

It's not, pre-production can vary due to different factors; project scope, prototyping, budget, and/or studio focus.
Either way, it's too much derailing, I'll leave it there.

Yes, the preproduction time varies depending on the company or the project. I did work on a top publisher and have many friends working in multiple ones. For the cases I know, a year and a half of preproduction is already considered a very long one, I don't know a single case of 4 or 5 years of pre-production.

 

[GymWolf]

There is no way a bigger sequel was just 150 mil, with the costs of developing going up, the game would have been at least 200mil+.

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

He seems really bitter.

Specially considering that the Days Gone sequel wasn't approved internally at Sony Bend and had nothing to do with Herman. That's what someone else from Bend said like 2 years ago in an interview.

If Sony isn't interested in Days Goen why would a movie be in the works? Makes no sense.

This guys just seems pressed and sounds like be's burnign briges with a lot of people in the industry. Who would hire someone like this? Sounds like a younger version of David Jeffe.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

My favorite part about this story is people who have never worked remotely close to the game industry telling creative lead Jeff Ross why he's wrong.

Some of y'all can be pretty dense sometimes.

 

[Bond007]

Dude is so butthurt.
Given today's world of gaming- it probably deserves a sequel. But i mean, it didn't light to world on fire either.

Gimme Order 1886 if we talking games from Sony that need a sequel.

 

[Gamer_By_Proxy]

It's Freakers and Infected. Sony doesn't even have a Zombie game.