Days Gone Director John Garvin Says Metacritic Score Is Everything to Sony

Days Gone director and writer John Garvin said he took the game's early reviews pretty hard as the Metacritic score is everything to Sony. He left mere days after the game's launch.

[-Foxtrot]

What about user scores?

That shows a different picture about well received it was to fans.

This is why game journalists have far too much power and I personally it’s a bit like Hollywood with the Oscars, it’s office, behind the scenes politics with studio reputation, friendships and more taken into account

Journalists knew they didn’t really have any big ties to Sony Bend, and Days Gone wasn’t a big franchise so hurting it wasn’t going to come back and hurt them.

[Jin_Sakai]

“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"​

This just adds to the fact Sony want big blockbusters going forward. Not every game has to be a 90+ Metacritic. It’s obvious that Days Gone clicked with fans more than journalist.

[DarXyde]

I think that's inevitably the case because reviewers take an entire game into the equation when giving a score—the average gamer does not. A gamer can give a score based entirely on how fun a game is or how beautiful it is. If an official review outlet ever did that, they would immediately be laughed out of the room. Reviews are always subjective, but user reviews may entirely rate something up for one reason or down entirely for a reason (e.g., "this game sucks! No matchmaking mode, 1/10").

I worry, frankly. The obsession with critical reception means some great games will never get sequels. I would also like to know how Sony weights critical reception as opposed to commercial reception: if a game scores poorly but sells very well, will they kill any hope for a sequel, or take time to refine it for a higher score and try again? If a game scores well, but sells poorly, what's that going to do?

My biggest concern here is that if the score is a very strong indicator of Sony's sequel strategy, hype is going to be a dangerous factor.

[AirJohnston]

Yup, this is all on Sony. They're the ones giving the critics power if they care about the score as much as this man is saying they do

[Extermin8or3_]

Literally this has nothing todo with if a game is a big blockbuster or not. Plenty of games are 90+ metacritic titles and they are not big blockbusters. All this shows is that Sony wants the games it publishes to be of the highest quality they can be and that in their eyes the best way of measuring that is metacritic. Whilst imperfect I can see why they have chosen that method.

[S2Killinit]

Wait so now its bad to demand quality? We are living in upside down right now ladies and gentlemen. It ls CRAZY how this new wave of articles literally turned a focus on quality gaming into a bad thing. Anything can be planted in minds with the right strategy. Amazing. And scary.

[Jin_Sakai]

“Wait so now its bad to demand quality?“

While Metacritic is a starting point I’d also take actual gamers options into account and most liked Days Gone. It’s the journalist that didn’t really like the game and the BS reviews like Kallie Plagge’s didn’t help matters.

[Inverno]

People find it ridiculous when they hear some say that mainstream media has too much influence/power. Yet those who don't want to believe it come in droves every time a major game gets a review and if it's a positive review they say positive things without playing it, and if it's a negative review they say negative things again without playing it. They form opinions based on someone else's opinion just because there's a familiar name behind it.
Idk how many examples one has to give to convince people. Pokemon was bad but the media said it was good, everyone believed it. Drive Club was good but the media said it was a broken unplayable mess and they all believed it. Pokemon went on to sell millions and Evolution Studios went on to be closed down over a game that shouldn't have flopped if the media didnt outright lie about it.

[-Foxtrot]

Pokemon Sword and Shield was hilarious

When someone asked about the flaws and issues with the game, Casey DeFreitas of IGN, huge Pokemon fan girl, reviewing it said “a review is not the time or place for criticism”

Now did they apply that “logic” to Days Gone? No. Course not, everything should be talked about.

They pick and choose, moving goal posts when needed.

[Extermin8or3_]

Erm driveclub sent on to be an excellent game eventually. But at release it was lacking features and was a mess.

[Inverno]

They were too busy trying to paint fan criticism as just the fan base being toxic rather than pointing out the flaws the game had. That's the other problem with journalism these days. They attack their own readers, then resort to name calling when they get criticized over their heavily biased reviews.

[gamer7804]

Games journalists are what’s wrong with the gaming industry my favorite movies are rarely Oscar winners and my favorite games are rarely lauded by game big outlet game journalists. Days gone was a game that told its own story and didn’t try to make a political or social statement which is a better start than a lot of games have.

[neutralgamer1992]

This isn't the right mindset and this new sony sucks man if this is their mindset moving forward. What made sony special was they took chances others won't but it seems now they want to focus on AAA blockbusters

[FlavorLav01]

Within a year of each other we got Ghost of Tsushima and we will get Returnal very shortly. Seems like the risk taking on new IP is still in full effect. They’re just picky about quality assurance. That’s not a bad thing in my book. I’ll take quality over quantity any day.

[neutralgamer1992]

Flavor

That's true. Maybe it's not so much about commercial success they just want their own games to be masterpieces

[AirJohnston]

Or maybe Sony shouldn't put so much stock into what the critic review score is. No one is forcing them to, Sony is giving them power

[Petebloodyonion]

the only score I do qualify as real is the Steam review because you have to actually make the purchase before reviewing the game. Some games are indeed trashed when not playing properly (see lots of COD games)
and other games were praised despite the meh of the media Quantum Break, Castlevania Lords of Shadow 2, Alien Isolation, etc.

I don't trust the Metacritic user scores because of the ppl giving 0 and 10 just to change the value (see TLOU2).

[northpaws]

@Foxtrot

When users can just hate bomb whatever that doesn't fit their agenda, I don't see how that is anymore legit than metacritic.

[Extermin8or3_]

It's far less legitm generally I think critics are critics for a reason and their reviews hold weight for good reason. The examples like the ign pokemon review are simply examples of individuals who should not be employed as critics. It's also worth remembering that metacritic is an average and I don't recall any extra weighting being given to the big media outlets and it includes many a smaller independent reviewers aswell as the likes of IGN, gamespot etc. Overall usually hundreds of scores go into a final metacritic score for a game so I do think therefore it does have some validity in terms of a means of judging a games quality. The same way rotten tomato scores for films whilst also an imperfect method of judging films it generally is along the right lines. Whilst you get the outliers like star wars rhe last jedi and rise of skywalker where many of the critics views run totally contrary to the vast majority of the general public you also have many many films where they call it completely correctly: batman vs superman, justice league, suicide squad, fantastic 4, daredevil (movie) etc

[steven_seagull]

TLOU2 is a perfect example of why you shouldnt let user-score determine the official score

[RauLeCreuset]

TLOU2 is a perfect example of why Foxtrot wants user scores given more consideration, and the laughably ridiculous comment above from Foxtrot's fellow traveler, Sonic-and-Crash, is why not user scores.

[outsider1624]

@lakkebumsickle
"Tlou2, even with all those "awards" is basically a forgotten joke compared to the 1st one. Its basically definitve proof of how big the divorce between gamers and novices that pretend to be journalists( aka gaming media and reviewers) are."

What a load of crock!!

It didn't just win awards from critics but it was also the most awarded game from players too. You're going to disregard that. The fact you still bring it up shows its not forgotten.

"Frankly ill take gravity rush over the boring 1000th open world knockoff like spiderman and horizon. Let alone a joke like tlou2."

How about getting everyone buy and support a game like gravity rush then.

[-Foxtrot]

Oh but when it's something like Battlefront 2 for example when users complained on Metacritic it wasn't "review bombing" then was it?

Face it, user reviews on metacritic are more honest, it's just when it doesn't go a "certain way" with a game someone likes then people have an issue. When it comes to a game that you don't like you'll be praising the system.

Can't move the goal posts when it suits you

@RauLeCreuset

Oh please, you guys are bringing TLOU2 into this, not me. Just shows are insecure you all are if you have to continue to defend the game on another article off topic.

[RauLeCreuset]

Complains about a lack of ethics and corruption among media reviewers. Proposes a solution that is more prone to corruption, bias, and a lack of accountability.

Say what you want about games journalists. At least they're not some bot, sock account, or anonymous troll with no oversight, reputation, or subject to any other form of accountability that would discourage bad faith reviews from people who may not have played a single second of the game.

[RauLeCreuset]

@Lakebumsickle

WTF are you even talking about? Stop rambling on the internet, and learn how to use the spacebar.

I'm not talking about made up numbers you pulled out of your butt, like "1% of ppl that troll userscores." I'm talking about complaining that one system is untrustworthy while pushing to replace it with something more untrustworthy with less accountability. That's not me singing the praises of Metacritic reviewers. That's me saying at least they have a reputation I can take into account when reading their reviews, which is not the case when Metacritic user biggusdickus573 creates an account with only one review to give TLOU2 a 0. (Yes, I really got that example from Metacritic.)

"Youtube journos are actually far better and big corporations like ign would sacrafice an infant to get those types of click traffic than angry joe and dunkey get."

Who was talking about little media versus big media? Stay on subject, and stop rambling.

"N4gtards exaggerate how much Mcritic actually matters. Mostly cuz sonys dull games get highscores though. Frankly ill take gravity rush over the boring 1000th open world knockoff like spiderman and horizon. Let alone a joke like tlou2."

Apparently not enough people agreed with you, so maybe those scores mattered more than you thought.

[RauLeCreuset]

And another sock created 2 hrs ago to crap on TLOU2 bites the dust. Ask me again about user scores.

[-Foxtrot]

Based on your comment to me above, where you actually mention the game, you seem to be hinting at the Last of Us Part II with this comment aswell

Are you really going to shit all over user reviews and praise mostly corrupt journalists because of ONE game getting bad user reviews on Metacritic? Jeez.

[RauLeCreuset]

@Foxtrot

Funny how responsive you are now that the sock is gone. Anyway...

"Based on your comment to me above, where you actually mention the game, you seem to be hinting at the Last of Us Part II with this comment aswell"

The comment wasn't to you. It was about you. Nevertheless, TLOU2 is a great example of the flaws with user reviews. Since you're bringing above comments into this, this is a good time for me to address one of yours.

"Face it, user reviews on metacritic are more honest, it's just when it doesn't go a "certain way" with a game someone likes then people have an issue. "

So honest that Metacritic instituted a 36 hour waiting period on user reviews after TLOU2 got bombed.

https://www.shacknews.com/a...

"Are you really going to shit all over user reviews and praise mostly corrupt journalists because of ONE game getting bad user reviews on Metacritic? Jeez."

Where did I do that? That's your problem. That ax you're obsessed with grinding distracts you from thinking things through and seeing nuance.

Let me bottom line it for you without getting into the validity of all your gripes and hang-ups:

Giving more credence to reviews that have less quality control and coming from dubious sources with no accountability is not a solution to the complaints you have about media reviews.

[RauLeCreuset]

"This sock got put in ur so hard it got banned."

Like everything else you've said, I don't think that even makes sense to you. But you're desperate enough that you can almost fool yourself into believing it does make sense to you if you just wish it did hard enough. Whatever argument you're trying to make is undermined by the fact that you're so biased against and triggered by TLOU2 you keep creating these socks. You aren't convincing anyone. Not even yourself.

[Zeref]

Fanboys gave them that power. If your game is not above an 8 then apparently it's trash and nobody should play it.

[Vengeance1138]

Users have absolutely no idea how to make a proper userscore, if you look at all the so called "bad games" the user score is either 1/10 or 10/10 there simply is no middle. Also it's just too easy to review bomb those scores. If there's anything that should be ignored it's userscore.

[Batnut00]

What a load of nonsense. User Scores are absolutely unreliable since they tend to be more abused, which is why we have meta-bombing, not to mention, they're not a perfect reflection of how general audiences actually feel about a particular property since the base actually putting out user scores isn't as big as you think it is.

And Game Journalists have too much power? On what grounds? If Game Journalists actually had as much power as you said than Day's Gone wouldn't have been as much of a sales success that it was. Game Journalists aren't power-brokers, they're just people giving their thoughts and opinions about video games. Do some have bigger audiences? Absolutely, would it be enough to turn the tide of a video game's sales? Not at all. If that were the case, we wouldn't see flops of generally critically acclaimed games like Titanfall 2 or Control.

[Snookies12]

That's a really crappy mindset by Sony, if true. It's just a bit hard to believe when they've given support to a lot of games that weren't released to glowing reviews or hyped fans. Unless this is a drastic change that took place within the last few years. Which, could very well have been the case. It's just odd when they've had so much support for indies and whatnot that wouldn't have gotten much attention without them.

[Christopher]

What's the crappy mindset? Replacing people as creative directors for not matching metacritic metrics (not dropping the IP, btw) or for not promoting subpar games that we as gamers openly trash talk day in and day out if they're not 8/10 or higher rated?

I can't keep up with the constantly changing mindset of the gaming fanbase.

[TheColbertinator]

@Chris

"I can't keep up with the constantly changing mindset of the gaming fanbase."

It is impossible to grasp insanity.

[tombfan]

Sony and other companies wouldn't be so harsh about it if the critics didn't matter that much to gamers and to sell games. This days people don't buy games below 90... And that's stupid, reviews need to change, press has too much power over the industry.

[Rangerman1208]

It still surprises me that a score of 7 is considered a bad score.

[BlackOni]

A big reason they have so much power are these "numbers." If reviewers were tasked with not using them anymore, companies like Sony or any other company for that matter, would have to use a different metric (like sales, customer satisfaction, or bottom line statements) rather than arbitrary numbers that don't tell the story of the quality of the game. Many people even here commented that 70 being considered "bad" is weird. But to many, a "C" just means average, and nothing special. Either way, I don't think most agree that "bad" or "average" tells the story of Days Gone.

[RevXM]

What scares me with this mindset if true and its like a one track mindset is that they wont really be growing studios and ips.

If sony had such a mindset 15 years ago uncharted wouldnt get a sequel and naughty dog would perhaps get canned alltogether. Little things grow and improve. Rarely does a studio just... Exist out of nowhere and make horizon zero dawns and spidermans.

[chronoforce]

Uncharted: Drakes Fortune sits at an 88 on metacritic. The game reviewed well, sold well and probably was in development for less time than Days Gone.

[Indigon]

Blockbuster burnout will be a thing.

[S2Killinit]

Hehehe too much good games

[Rangerman1208]

What's funny is that Knack, the first game, had a middling metacritic score, and yet it still managed to get a sequel. Meanwhile, Days Gone, whose metacritic score is much higher (it's 70-ish, but I don't consider it a bad score), won't get one because now suddenly metacritic is what matters now? I just can't understand Sony at all lol

[tombfan]

Or maybe the pitched sequel was just... Bad! Also, maybe Knack didn't cost that much to make.

[yeahokwhatever]

thats literally the mindset of all of the publishers..

[Napoca7]

Just like Nintendo & Xbox :)

[Silly gameAr]

Nah uuh. It's only Sony. Don't put those two angels in the same sentence as this demon known as Sony.

Anyway, when it rains it pours, huh? They just keep finding reasons for everyone to be angry at/criticize Sony. Days Gone never got this much attention when the game actually released, but now that it can be used as ammo, it's being bought up daily.

Just seems convenient, with all the doom that's been going on with Sony lately.

[Gameseeker_Frampt]

"Days Gone never got this much attention when the game actually released"

You really think that nobody should be talking about Days Gone - the game Sony just gave away this month in PS+ and will release next month on PC? It must be hard work dismissing every single criticism of Sony. What I want to know is what you and the others get out of defending every single thing that Sony does or doesn't do? Do you really think that the absence of criticism is what makes you a true fan of something?

[Robodrake]

Yea. When Days Gone released, including the build up to the game. Media and critics were panning the living daylights out of Days Gone.

Now that the hot new in thing is to crap on Sony, the media are bashing Sony for Sony reacting the Media. Im confused, what does the media want?

[DOMination-]

In previews it got criticism across the board for lacking depth and variety. That's on both Sony and Bend for getting it wrong if the final product was not representative of that (I haven't played it so I don't know)

But the reviews were mostly favourable. I just looked and it has a meta of 71. That to me is a good score. Sure, room for improvement, it was (I think) Bends first attempt at a big game and am sure they could have made a better game again with a sequel. It definitely wasn't "panned" though.

I don't know what's worse - people here who have the perception that game was destroyed in reviews (when 7/10 is probably about right and still a good score) or Sony for shutting it down at the first attempt. With the experience now gained and some help from SMS and ND, I'm sure Bend could do a good job in future.

Just another note, I see a lot of people on here and GAF getting personally upset and precious over the Schrier report to the point where he has had to backtrack due to the backlash - but all of these little reports coming out just prove he was right. When it comes to investigative work, both him and Mark Gurman are as trustworthy as it comes and both are at Bloomberg. Just because people don't like what they read, doesn't mean they should receive threats. And most of the time, actual good comes from reporting like this. Just look at previous work on CDPR, EA and UBI.. they acted on it and you can bet behind the scenes Sony will be reviewing their policies too and acting on feedback.

And early next year, you can absolutely expect the cycle to repeat when Jason reports on 343i staff once Halo launches because that studio sounds like its been a mess for five years.

[Razmiran]

Im not so sure about xbox, lots of their games get less than 70 on metacritic and they still get sequels made. Like for example state of decay

[TheColbertinator]

State of Decay was a big seller on Steam without having a AAA budget like Days Gone.

https://www.mcvuk.com/busin...

Very little marketing but strong word of mouth allowed Microsoft to invest more in the studio.

[Extermin8or3_]

State of decay 2 was such a letdown tbh they'd do well to adopt something of a similar policy. Then again can MS afford to cancel any new it's they may have I'd the quality isn't high enough considering they have like bo exclusives at present.... maybe not.

[RauLeCreuset]

@Lakebumsickle

SOD2 is better received based on what??? Sales? User voted GOTY awards? Metacritic user score? Let's look at those Metacritic metrics:

TLOU2 has 78,015 more POSITIVE user reviews than the combined total of all user reviews for SOD2 across Xbox and PC.
TLOU2 has 78,785 more positive user reviews than the total for both versions of SOD2.
TLOU2 has 78,905 more positive user reviews than the Xbox version of SOD2.
TLOU2 has 79,194 more positive user reviews than the PC version of SOD2.
TLOU2 has a higher user score, 5.7, despite the review bombing, than SOD2 on Xbox, 5.5, and PC, 4.8.
TLOU2 has a 5.7 user score. The user score when averaging both versions of SOD2 is 5.15.

Want some more stats?

TLOU2 sold over 3.1 million units in its first 3 days.

https://blog.playstation.co...

By contrast, SOD2 had only exceeded 3 million "players" over a month after release.

https://news.xbox.com/en-us...

[King_Noctis]

Yes, but those two still make/publish smaller titles as well such as Ori (for MS) and Cadence of Hyrule (for Nintendo).

MS also continues to bring older titles back (even if some of those didn’t sell well) such as State of Decay, Psychonaunts, and Battletoad while Nintendo still continues to support games such as Kirby even though said game didn’t particularly score well on Metacritic (the last Kirby game scored 73% on Metacritic, around the same score as Days Gone).

[XiNatsuDragnel]

What dumb mindset in my opinion Sony.

[tombfan]

Tell that to the people that only buys games if the metascore is above 90... And trust me, it's a majority. I'm sure other companies are also in the same mindset.

[assassingamer36]

That's not true. Reports came out today miles Morales sold more than the last of us 2 and it's clearly at 84 and 85 respectively.

[Redemption-64]

@assassingamer36
And what report was that? Can you please provide some evidence?

[yeahokwhatever]

industry standard, my man.

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Still I rather fans be the one to dictate the games we want tbh.

[yeahokwhatever]

they do by buying the game during the launch window. too many people didnt buy this game after launch because they didnt like the reviews. if you feel wronged by a review, that you tried the game and had a drastically different opinion, dont go to that review site anymore. always vote with your wallet and what sony releases and supports will be right in line with your own opinion. of course, you may just have unique tastes.. in that case, be thankful for whatever you get.

[Jericho1337]

Seems to back up the news of Sony only wanting big blockbuster games. Makes sense from a business point of view, but we’re not going to get many creative risks from them either.

[PitbullMonster]

For real? You say that to a company that published games like Dreams, Death Stranding, the last guardian, TLoU2 (story wise), Ghost of Tsushima and soon Returnal?

[Extermin8or3_]

@saltdetector Jim Ryan has been working for Sony since ps1 days to my knowledge..... so try again also Herman Hulst is the one in charge of game development and managing games like this abd I think when days gone was released shuhei yoshida was still head of world wide studios? But I could be wrong.

[Jericho1337]

5/6 of the games you mentioned are already released and therefore likely started development years ago. See what happens in the next 3-4 years before leaping to Sony’s defends.

[PitbullMonster]

Then you should also wait 3-4 years before you write something like your first comment.

[RauLeCreuset]

"Also tlou2s story wasnt even a creative risk, just a badly calculated one."

Ohhhh. Okay. It wasn't a "creative" risk. It was a "badly calculated" risk. You get a 10 for mental gymnastics.

[PitbullMonster]

@Lakebumsickle
You are salty as F*ck.

[Jericho1337]

It’s a prediction mate, you know what they are don’t you.

[tombfan]

Maybe this would impact if consumers would also be more open to play games with scores below 80 (and I'm exagerating there, I think below 90 it's already a "broken" game for a lot of users)

Sony and other companies wouldn't be so harsh about it if the critics didn't matter that much to gamers and to sell games.

[ginganinja]

Thing is, if two games are coming out and one is getting a load of buzz and scores in the 90s and the other is getting scores in the 70s and comments like 'it's actually ok.' then the average gamer is more likely to buy the former game at full price and the latter when it hits a sale, if at all.
There's a lot of great games about, and they cost a lot in terms of time and money. Why buy an ok game, when there's 'better' games out there.

[ZombieGamerMan]

bet that's true and that's a shit mindset but your game is still crap

[Knushwood Butt]

Sony care about delivering games that are well received?

Is this supposed to be a negative?

[Nacho_Z]

Good point. In addition an indie is just as capable of scoring a 9/10 as a new Uncharted. Focusing on quality doesn't mean committing to boring safe choices it just means you want quality products associated with the brand.

[P_Bomb]

That’s one way to kill potential in a hurry.

Imagine if this series died at 70 meta https://www.metacritic.com/...

[RauLeCreuset]

This wasn't about killing the series. This was the game's creative director explaining why he took the reviews hard.

"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."

The ramifications were specifically for the director. He didn't say anything about the series getting canned. The only example mentioned in the article of a dead series is one that was killed over sales, not the Metacritic reviews.

"On the other hand, there's evidence Sony might actually be looking for both outstanding critical acclaim and commercial success nowadays. For example, Japan Studio's Gravity Rush 2 had an average Metacritic score of 80 but didn't really sell well and that was the last game ever made by Team Gravity."

[chronoforce]

Of course you compare Days Gone to GTA 2 which released a year after the first game so was probably not in development for 4+ years and probably did not cost over 100mil either.

[P_Bomb]

Pick your own games then. Look at Nier. OG reviewed to a 68 https://www.metacritic.com/... but we still got Automata and the Replicant remake coming out right away.

[chronoforce]

The examples you are giving don't support the argument you are trying to make. Nier is yet another game not comparable to Days Gone in terms of the time, resources spent on development and expectation.

The question a game needs to answer is whether the sales justify the time and resources spent. Can 5 mil units justify years in development, a bloated budget and middling review scores? Days Gone also cannot be removed from the position it was in as a premium AAA game from Sony. With Days Gone, Bend cast their arrow and missed the target.

Nier's review score would certainly not have been too surprising as the Drakengard series it spun off from was no better received. Before Automata, Nier was in fact the highest rated game in the Drakengard series. GTA 2 also has a slightly higher meta than GTA 1. Neither were AAA premium games in manner that Days Gone was meant to be.

Can you actually find examples of games in similar situation to Days Gone? Games that took as long, cost as much and reviewed as poorly that still got sequels. My bet is there are not a lot if any.

[P_Bomb]

That’s a whole ‘nother article. This one’s about metacritic trumping all.

[kevinsheeks]

The problem for me is the price point; games continue to get more expensive so I expect quality for my money and can take less risk as prices increase, I don't believe all games warrant a 59.99+ price tag and the higher they go the more expectations will fly.

[Aussieguy]

I would have thought, copes sold and money made would be more important.

Also, this is very sad news, as maybe that's why ND continue to work on Uncharted and The Last of us instead of a new IP and something different.

[Redemption-64]

The Last of us only has two games and ND is said to be working on a new IP

[Redemption-64]

@Saltdetector

another tired 3rd person cenimantic game.

Sign me up, cannot wait

[Aussieguy]

With one remake and heard the devs of Days Gone might be working on another remake. Then they got all the Uncharted games. I thought it would be nice if they tried something new like Guirella Games and the devs that made Ghost of Tsushima.

They are good enough to make another great new IP and havent made one for a few console gens now. And if they are working on a new IP, that would be really good news.

[fsfsxii]

they kinda made a generic zombie game and got lambasted by the press for it, big whoop.
zombie games are some of the most boring schlock ever nowadays, not even resident evil is doing zombies anymore, and then they do, the gameplay loop involves more than just a 'horde' of zombies, as if a horde of zombies can makeup for a lackluster game.
I agree with Sony's strategy, if you're not making something that's worth my time, you don't deserve a chance.

[P_Bomb]

Hey I like zombie games lol. Name me some games you like, promise you someone won’t feel the same. We all have guilty pleasures.

[anast]

Nothing guilty about zombie games. I feel dirty when I play live service games. lol

[Tedakin]

Not surprising since gamers think anything under an 80 is garbage and put total stock in metacritic when gauging a game's quality.

[jBlakeeper]

Days Gone 2 was pitched as a live service game. I can see why Sony rejected the idea of it if they did. The first one wasn’t highly rated and it’s risky. I’ve played a bit of the first and it doesn’t feel nearly as high in quality as other Sony titles.

Sony holds first party to a very high standard.

[got_dam]

I loved this game. I'm from the region the game is set in. I have never seen another piece of media about my home. Now, there was technical issues for sure. I still had a hell of a good time. I'm very disappointed that I will never gwt to play a sequel.

[Knightofelemia]

I like the game I enjoyed playing it its right up there as another one of my favorite titles to have played on the PS4 and its coming to pc so they also get to enjoy the game.

[anast]

Game journos gave it a hard time because the main character is a biker.

[TheTony316]

And the very same people are now upset over Days Gone 2, lol.

[46player]

Fantastic game!

[Sprucegoose77]

I really enjoyed Days Gone. Shame if there is not a sequel. I think there were some missed opportunities with the game but overall it was decent for a new IP. One thing that bugged me is there was no fishing in the game. It was talked about several times in the game but was not an actual activity. Was a shame to me as the game has some really nice water vistas! Also annoying that you could not swim. Other than that I had a blast!

[Petebloodyonion]

I will always say this because I have seen to many times to be a coincidence but yeah reviewers are getting influenced by major corporations and vice versa.
Companies may hold review copies for the smaller reviewer,
not welcoming some journalist to some event
Create a special Q&A session before a review session where the Devs will stress out the new feature (for example the Nemesis system).
Threatening to reduce ads purchase
Creating review session
etc.

The same applies to media as well when they are not happy with a company or don't want to lose funds
such as when media been made to look like a fool (Sega Saturn release date)
Changing review policies (see Ign with Prey)
etc...

Just ask yourself how come all reviewers had to mentioned the Nemesis System and be wowed by when unless you know you will never be aware of it?

All reviewer mentioned how perfect is MGS5 when nobody pointed how bland and empty the open world is
No reviewer lower the score of Zelda for lack of Story
The awful Sonic game on the 3ds and GT sports on Ps4 were reviews months after the release date because the games super advertised on GameSpot.
Prey got a special review from IGN of 2 out of 10.
Control almost got a super great score and is always mentioned as a must-play game for PS4 but no mentions of how badly the Ps4 vanilla version play (10 frames per second).
The same applied to Cyberpunk with great scores until the fans riot about the bad performance suddenly all the same reviewer made another review of the game
Castlevania LOS2 almost every reviewer slam the game for the stealth part that happens 4 times in the entire game and point out the instant death and the need to redo the mini-game but 0 reviewers pointed out the instadeath of TLOU that comes with a 1 min loading screen that you have to watch the little medal spins
etc...

In the case of Day's gone it was already dead the day of the reveal trailer of E3.
I remember watching the trailer with my friends be wowed by the World war Z mob chasing the Hero.
Just to hear by Angry Joe, E3 guy and basically all panelist
"Do we need another zombie game?"
"It's another cinematic 3rd person shooter with zombie now in an open world great"
It looks generic
II remember posting often way before the release date that despite how fun the game would play don't expect the score to be above 7

[Gameseeker_Frampt]

I agree with most of what you said except the part about Prey. IGN gave it a 4/10 at launch because of a game breaking bug and that was a generous score. Bethesda had made the decision to not send out early review copies for any of their games, basically forcing customers who bought it at launch to have no feedback beforehand. If you are going to sell a product sight unseen, it sure as hell better work.

[Petebloodyonion]

My mistake was a 4 for a breaking bug that only IGN had at launch (and was called out by many).

[Gameseeker_Frampt]

Other low scoring reviews also called out Prey's game breaking bugs.

Gamespot - "Unfortunately, I encountered a number of technical issues with Prey in my playthrough, the most severe of which prevented quest progression entirely." 6/10

Twinfinite - " During my playthrough, the game warned me of corrupted saves" 6/10

I'm not sure what you are getting at - are you bothered that extremely rare bugs don't happen to every reviewer or do you believe that reviewers shouldn't score games based on bugs that they experience playing them?

[yeahokwhatever]

the thing is, it DID look generic...

[DivineHand125]

I don't get why so many are appalled that Sony prefers to make 9 out of 10 games rather than 8 out of 10 games. I know that some of you here like Days Gone and the news about Sony shelving the second game did not phase me one bit as I stopped playing the first one after an hour in.

I think most of the voices here needs to approch this from a different point of view and while it does seem to make more financial sense for Sony to shelve Days Gone 2 in favor of something that will make more money, I am going to present an angle of how this benifits us as playstation fans as well.

In a perfect world, Sony would have unlimited time and resources to have their studios make all sorts of games but based on what I have heard so far, it seems that these things are limited and they have developers going between studios to help with projects. Imagine if Sony greenlit Days Gone 2 but then they would have to delay other projects to get the game done such as Horizon Forbidden West, God of War Ragnorok or the next Naughty Dog game. I am not so worried about what Insomniac does because it seems they were standing on their own before Sony aquired them but you get my point. Also lets pretend that Sony is not investing in new IPs since we have Returnal coming at the end of the month.

[P_Bomb]

“...I stopped playing the first one after an hour in.”

And I stopped reading there.

[yeahokwhatever]

so did i. and i actually paid 60$ for the game. It was clunky and awkward, and i started off kind of hating the protagonist. so what should i do? keep playing to please you? lol

[P_Bomb]

No. But it doesn’t mean the ppl that did like it don’t amount to something too.

[Orchard]

Sounds like they’re still stuck in the last decade. Who cares about metacritic in 2021?

Especially as a metric to kill new IP. Lots of IP that got 70-80 ended up becoming great IP’s in the future.

[MIDGETonSTILTS17]

I love Days Gone, but it shipped in shit condition. I think Sony likes a good first impression from ALL of ts first-party studios.

Bend Studios could afford to be more humble if they’re blaming their publisher’s judgement for them not getting the greenlight for a sequel.

Earn the trust.

[BrettAwesome]

They're not really. He doesn't work there anymore.

[rekof]

This is so out of context,.. Anyone who watched Jaffe's interview knows that,.. So this crap is clickbaiting a best.

[Robodrake]

GameSpot and IGN allegedly have the most weighting towards the metascore average for any given game, which is a tremendous screw up - and if this is true, then you can single out 2 people for the failure of Days gone and the cancellation of the Sequel: Lucy O Brien from Ign and Kallie plague (or whatever the f her name is) from gamespot.

These morons produced some of the lowest quality reviews i've ever seen. I remember reading criticisms and being genuinely shocked at how stupid they were. Bend studio devs toiled for 6 years to bring this game out, then a couple of bimbos come in, write a review in a half baked, low effort review (without even finishing the game) which probably took them an hour to write.

[chronoforce]

I remember Kallie's review of Cyberpunk 2077 was dismissed by many but much of what she said about the game was accurate. Kallie highlighted a litany of issues in the game beyond it's bugs that many including myself would find out were not exaggerated or mischaracterisations upon playing the game.

Sony Bend made an open world zombie game. I think there are no 2 genres that could have combined to make a much more generic feeling game. Full of bandit camps, zombie nests, crafting materials, stealth bushes and so on.

The horde system was meant to be the thing that stood out but Lucy for example remarked that it lacked the variation in zombies needed to be interesting for long. During the David Jaffe stream Jeff Ross confirms that lots of the zombies were simply scaled up or down and that the amount they had to render did not allow for much variation.

Bend made an ok game, their cardinal sin was that it took 6 years and probably close to 200mil.

[Rimeskeem]

I would think sales matter more...

[ajax17]

I was not expecting a four hour interview, holy crap!

[franwex]

Sometimes I feel that Sony gets a free pass for being Sony. Just like Nintendo but not as bad as Nintendo.

If another studio would’ve made days gone it would’ve scored lower. If days gone was made by Nintendo it’ll been Game of the Year.

At least that’s kinda how I see things.

[Noz]

Tbh, i played it as it came as ps plus title, but after an hour or so i uninstalled it because it was boring, i dont know why some people like it so much...

[yeahokwhatever]

exactly. its a 7/10 if you're being generous.

[Christopher]

The first camp sucks hard. It does get better after that. But it takes about six hours of investment.

[Pyrofire95]

I don't like review bombing but this is not the way a creative business should be run. Metacritic should not be taken so seriously and to judge the success on a game by it is a disrespect and failure.

[TheHan]

I doubt that but whatever.

[goldwyncq]

Arrogant Sony is back in full swing.

[Gatsu]

Metacritic has too much power and should just go away to be honest. So many people too miss amazing games, when they got the mindset that a game below 90 is a crap game.

[SaveFerris]

SIE relying on Metacritic doesn't sound great for creativity. A bunch of 'journalists' broadcasting their opinions about a video game which could vary depending on how much free stuff or advertising they get from the publisher. Whether it is from a user, or journalist, both can be tainted by biases. I do read some reviews for more information about the game beyond trailers and publisher advertising, but I don't put too much stock in scores or ratings. If I like what I see and read about a game, I may go and buy it. Gamers need to trust their instincts. Don't be a sheep and let some random person decide whether you should like a game or not.

[Chocoburger]

Best post made on this article. 👍
I never visit Metacritic or Opencritic, I don't care about other people's opinions anymore. I used to be influenced by others on message boards, but I ended up buying games that were good but weren't for my tastes, or I simply bought bad games.

This doesn't happen as often anymore, I watch video footage of a game, I'll find out if it's a broken buggy mess or not, and that's all I really need to know.

[yeahokwhatever]

so, its not really that metacritic should go away, but gamers should just find review sites that dont give out scores.

[gold_drake]

lets not shit all over Sony shall we? the game was busted when it came out. simple as that.

i wrote several Nintendo first party game reviews and i have been told to give them atleast a 7 or up for main games, regardless of what i thought, when i asked why, ive been told that they will not send out review copies anymore or do not participate in giveaways, if its below that.

so its not just Sony. its all of them.

the main issue.. well its not an issue, but most people who dont creep around on these forums, only read reviews from IGN and the likes. they go by the scores and hardly ever read the article itself. thats why User Reviews mostly dont matter to those kinds of people, the majority, unfortunatly.

[CantThinkOfAUsername]

Then how the hell did they allow Destruction All Stars to exist when everyone pretty much expected it to fade as soon as released?

[chiefJohn117]

Ooohhh So that's why Naughty Dog was doing and acting like they were when someone gave average reviews. Smh

[Cikatriz_ESP]

“It’s so frustrating that Sony wants me to direct good games.”

[chiefJohn117]

Games in the 70s could have gameplay as fun as any 90s rated game but lacked a good story and had some technical issues and maybe mediocre graphics
but gameplay itself could be fun as hell. SOD is a good example of this. 80 rated often time have the graphics and the gameplay but usually too short or or was lack in 1 specific thing that stopped it from rating higher. While 90 games will have a great story, graphics, no noticeable bugs and good gameplay.

70,80 or 90 if gameplay is on point it's worth playing to me. And imo deserves a sequel to Iron out the issues that held it back.

[BioShockGX]

So sad

[Thundercat77]

Oh no Sony is dommed! They lost its way! Fire Jim Ryan!!! /s

We don't know for sure about these allegations and It has been Sony who have been taking risks and investing in different style of games. We know the unfair hate campaign Days Gone had just for being a Playstation exclusive and we know how successful the game was and even broke some Sony sale records.

Personally, I don't think metqceiric is the only thing Sony uses to measure its game but I am sure this article will be used to fuel the certain group hate propaganda.

[Iltapalanyymi]

this is getting worse. fire ryan
simple as.

[FanboysKiller]

I have my own space for that despite that I take all of them into account.

[Batnut00]

I will say, I don't like this particular mindset on Sony's part. So many game franchises can start out rough around the edges before showing real improvement in the sequels. Jak to Jak 2, Sly to Sly 2, Yes some games start out swinging like God of War but if the audience is there, they should capitalize on the foundations set by the first, not throw it away because it didn't review as well.

[EternalTitan]

I use high metascores to AVOID games.

[moomoo319]

After Cyberpunk received 90+ from every major outlet, I realized these AAA reviews are not genuine lol. So yeah if ur metacritic is 70 on a blockbuster u really did ass ass.

[yeahokwhatever]

CP2077 is a very good game. lots of bugs, sure. but i played it through 3 times. its been years since ive been that dedicated to finishing a game (uncharted 3, probably)

[moomoo319]

There was a lot of charm in being able to exploit every system. That made it fun for me ill give you that. Game was still a broken mess though lmao nowhere near a 9 at launch.

[sourOG]

Yeah it’s pretty sad but we brought that bullshit on ourselves. Well not me, there wasn’t a time when I gave a single shit about metacritic lol. But gamers in general do. That’s why Sony does.

[SpadeX]

I remember Sony said once its PS Plus games are based off Metacritic scores of 70 and above (or something similar).

[Napoca7]

Knack shows, that Sony just allow sequels for high metacritic games :)
Maybe Sony just had enough of bends promises. They would need 10 years for days gone 2 with all their ideas like multi-player,shared world and so on.
Days gone was a good game(i liked it), but never had the quality of an Sony first party game. I know the framrates & bugs, also the human enemies were so dumb.

[yeahokwhatever]

"never had the quality of an Sony first party game" <-- exactly.

[SinisterKieran]

i mean...that kinda makes sense to me.

[Hawk198666]

Don't release a bad performance game and be annoyed the sequel gets a no.... Still performs bad unless its on PS5. No sympathy.

[Silly gameAr]

This is either not true, or the words have been twisted as usual. There would be no Knack 2, and a lot of the games that had high metas would still be coming out today, instead of MIA, even though the studios that makes them is still around and thriving.

All of these years, all of these generations, why are we just now hearing how Sony loves Metacritic scores, when they've had plenty of misses throughout the years that didn't set the charts on fire.

[Binarycode]

Give it a rest, it wasn't a mind blowing game. it was decent. 1 game was enough tbh.

I would prefer a resistance remake or a new i.p.

[BlackOni]

Everyone is forgetting that when this game launched, it was in a rough state, according to performance analysis and both user AND press scores. People lamented it for technical issues, bugs, and boredom. It wasn't until it made improvements to all of these things that people started responding positively to this game.

I'm sorry John, but people were overall disappointed in this game up until late last year. THAT'S why there was reluctance from the community to support this game.

[Tetsdah]

Lmfao, talk about using one a part of the discussion to fit the article. If you watch the interview, he says it seems like meta critic means a lot to Sony, because they care more about brand perception then simply getting profit. They are like Disney, where they are not okay with a shitty movie just because it sells.
Not only that, there were number of issues with the development of the game including its poor management, quality, and long spurts of crunch.

Now this is getting out of hand lmao. Watch and report the actual key points of the discussion instead of slanting story to fit juicy headlines for clicks