Days Gone Creative Director claims “Metacritic score is everything” to Sony

Recent reports suggested that despite moderately successful sales, Sony refused to greenlight a sequel to 2019’s Days Gone. While this does not rule out a new entry in the future, the potential franchise appears to have been put on ice. The Creative Director for the game has claimed that part of the reason is due to the fact that “Metacritic score is everything” to Sony.

In a recent interview with David Jaffe, the Creative Director and writer for Days Gone ‘John Garvin’, who left shortly after the release of the first game, shared his thoughts on the report that Sony had not greenlit a sequel to Days Gone.

When asked about his reaction to the less-than-stellar Metacritic score for the first game, Garvin said “I took it hard, to be honest, because, again…This is just the reality of Sony, Metacritic score is everything. If you're the creative director on a franchise and your game is coming out to a 70, you're not going to be the creative director on that franchise for very long.”

Days Gone received a metacritic score of 71 upon its initial release. This figure trends lower than many of Sony’s first party offerings, with criticisms for Days Gone ranging from a lack of polish, to somewhat weak and inconsistent characters, as well as some tedium. Despite this, the game sold well, and many agreed that Days Gone offered a good basis for which sequels could improve upon. If Garvin is to be believed however, it would seem that Sony was not willing to risk the possibility of another ‘average’ game.

Sony’s decision to put quality above all else comes both with potential advantages and disadvantages. It will be interesting to see how this strategy pans out over the course of this generation.

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KitGuru says: What did you think of Days Gone? Are you excited for the PC release? Would you like to see a sequel? Let us know down below.

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