Why Astro Bot’s Innocuous Days Gone Cameo Has Hit the Headlines

ign.com:

PlayStation 5 exclusive Astro Bot has wowed critics and delighted players — but not everyone is happy with it.

Astro Bot, developed by Sony’s Japanese studio Team Asobi, is a 3D platformer that delves deep into PlayStation history for its many cameo bots. Check out IGN’s feature, Astro Bot: Every PlayStation Character - Easter Eggs, for more.

The bot cameos are little more than fun nods to PlayStation games past and present, and include joyful animations that lean on each character’s heritage. But for John Garvin, creative director of 2019 PlayStation 4 exclusive Days Gone, including protagonist Deacon St. John in Astro Bot promotional material is the cause of upset.

Quoting a tweet from Days Gone developer Bend Studio that celebrated the release of Astro Bot with an image of Deacon St. John on a beach, Garvin said: “Kinda sad that Deek has been reduced to promoting other games... Well done Bend Studio! Way to protect your legacy!”

Kinda sad that Deek has been reduced to promoting other games … well done Bend Studio! Way to protect your legacy! https://t.co/LRGsPYSX9g

Then, responding to the backlash to his tweet, Garvin doubled down: “Haha. I see my character reduced to a cartoon schill promoting some small game and I’m being harsh? Sit down, my brotha, adults are talking.”

Garvin’s tweets were roundly criticized (one current PlayStation Studios developer responded to call Astro Bot “a love letter to Playstation games. Not exactly sure what you're getting all hot and bothered about. Very happy to see games I've worked on referenced in this way”). But they are also unsurprising, given his previous comments on Sony’s treatment of Days Gone and the sequel that never happened. In December 2022, Bend Studio addressed an outburst from its former employee, who had blamed “woke reviewers” for Days Gone’s critical reception.

“We are aware of the comments made by our previous creative director on Days Gone regarding his personal view on the critical reception of our intellectual