In a streamed interview, John Garvin, the game director for Days Gone, has described what he sees as an issue of games being developed based on Metacritic scores. This comes on the heels of reports stating that Days Gone was denied permission for the development of a sequel.
Garvin details what he believes is that perception can be more important than actual sales of a game and goes on to use Disney as a comparison. "If you are Disney, you can't afford to make a s****** movie even if a bunch of people go to see it," Garvin says when asked if he believes the Metacritic score is more important than overall sales.
Days Gone, an open-world zombie survival game, was released in April 2019 to mixed reviews. Among critics, it earned an average rating of 71/100, while earning an 8.3/10 from players. This led to Sony reportedly denying the go-ahead to develop a sequel, even with some successful player numbers and sales on the PlayStation Network.
Garvin makes sure to distance his opinion from the executives, qualifying his comments with the statement "this is just my opinion. I haven't asked those guys." With Days Gone coming to the PC in May 2021, sales for the game look to only grow over time, bringing Garvin's statement back into the limelight.
It's hard to dispute Garvin's words. Garvin does own the fact that the team didn't do the things to make the game better at the end of the day, but also makes mention of political correctness, which makes for a bizarre commentary. The main critique, as mentioned on Metacritic, is that it's too repetitive, and drags on for too long. In this instance, Garvin appears to both take on the blame, but also shift it to a social justice warrior scapegoat.
While it's unknown where Sony stands on the idea that Metacritic determines everything for a game, Garvin seems to believe that this could be the main cause for the reluctance to green-light a sequel. Whatever the case may be, the game will live on as one that players widely appreciated, while critics were everywhere on the spectrum. While Days Gone won't be seeing a sequel anytime soon, fans of the game should be excited that the soon-to-be-released PC port will only expand the audience.
Days Gone is available now on the PS4, and releases May 18, 2021, on the PC.