Days Gone shows sales figures have never meant success
To the surprise of many, Days Gone is newsworthy again. Not the game itself, mind, but its treatment by publisher Sony. The nearly three-year-old PS4 game, that follows a moustachioed biker across a zombie-infested America, might seem like an open-and-shut case: the game’s initial release was met with little fanfare, its critical response was positive but middling, and last year’s PC port finally presented the game in the best state it’s ever been.
A reasonable success, you might think. Nothing to rave about, but certainly one to enjoy from the backlog. It’s that success, though, that’s become something of a hot topic. Responding to a celebratory announcement earlier this week that Sucker Punch’s Ghost of Tsushima has sold more than eight million copies, Days Gone co-director Jeff Ross took the opportunity to talk about his game’s comparative treatment.
It, too, had apparently sold over eight million copies at a similar point in its post-launch run, but didn’t receive nearly the same praise from Sony. “Local studio management always made us feel like it was a big disappointment,” Ross said, emphasizing that it was the Days Gone’s sales that disappointed the higher-ups, not its review scores. Hardly the corporate slap on the back and social media adulation that Ghost of Tsushima has received from Sony
It’s a kick in the teeth to any developer to see their creation treated unfairly, but perhaps that punt in the mouth hurts a little more when it comes from your own publisher. For all the talk of artistry and auteurism in the video games industry, it’s still a commercial space that’s, notionally, supposed to reward commercial success. If a game sells well, and its creative team is still on board, you can probably expect a
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