Though Sony has seen rousing success, there has been quite a bit of interesting turmoil behind the scenes with some of its development teams. Namely, Sony's Bend Studios has seen recent departures from some of its core staffers and talents. Veteran writer John Garvin, one of the original writers for Syphon Filter and 2019's Days Gone, who left Sony shortly after the game's release that April. In an interview with former God of War producer David Jaffe, Garvin was asked about the increase of engagement with Days Gone when it became available on PlayStation Plus. 

"I do have an opinion on something that your audience might find of interest, and nit might piss some of them off", Garvin says. "If you love a game, buy it at f**king full price...Don't complain if a game doesn't get a sequel if it wasn't supported at launch."

I find this to be a rather flawed take. Days Gone was a top seller throughout the month of April 2019, second best seller of the month, following Mortal Kombat 11. And those numbers aren't factoring digital sales. The game never saw a slump in sales during its release period, and its move to PC is an indicator that another base is certainly interested in wanting to try it out on a different platform. Public interest in a sequel was there for those who enjoyed the game, but the onus is more on the publisher, who seemed to lack enthusiasm in pursuing it further post release.   

It's also contradictory to Garvin's statement earlier in the interview where he brings up Metacritic scores playing a factor in Sony's feelings of Days Gone going forward. 

"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."

Jaffe even asked in kind, "how do you know you love a game until you've played it?". He follows up with a statement about piracy. While that IS an issue that plagues games (The Evil Within 2 suffered greatly, as leaks prior to its release lead to dismal sales), I feel what Garvin overlooks as a factor is what was a lack of mainstream interest in the single player open world genre. Fans will buy a product in high demand if they hear good enough word that it is indeed good enough to indulge in, putting to rest the talking point that reviews don't matter. Days Gone sounded mixed enough that it wasn't worth leveraging a full price purchase for something that may not suit their tastes.

What are your thoughts on Garvin's words?