In response to the last sales of Ghost of Tsushima, game director Jeff Ross spoke for the first time about that of his baby Days Gone, with concrete data to support it, and also returned to the non-validation of a suite.
Ghost of Tsushima is doing well, great even with over 8 million sales, but the celebration of a few hours ago left one person with a bitter taste. This person is Jeff Ross, game director on Days Gone, who has worked for the Mortal Kombat studio since his departure.
The reason is explained in his tweet: despite have sold more than 8 million copies in a year and a half (and a month, that’s precise), then over 1 million on Steam, the studio management always made the developers feel like it was a big disappointment:
At the time I left Sony, Days Gone had been out for a year and a half (and a month), and sold over 8 million copies. It’s since gone on to sell more, and then a million + on Steam. Local studio management always made us feel like it was a big disappointment. #daysgone #PlayStation https://t.co/KMZr2pGe9r
– Jeff Ross (@JakeRocket) January 5, 2022
As we can read, it does not implicate the highest management of Sony Interactive Entertainment, and especially not the former president Shawn Layden “who didn’t kill Days Gone 2 but was his best lawyer”. An advocate who stepped in to congratulate the former Bend Studio again:
Congratulations ???????? Always thought it was an ambitious and impressive title. The HORDES! It was a real privilege to be there on Launch Day. Will not forget. ?? ‘???????’? pic.twitter.com/kt3EnlhsJb
– shawn layden (@ShawnLayden) January 6, 2022
In another tweet, he insists and therefore seems to rule out a sustained online lead that would imply that Jim ryan, the new CEO and President of SIE, is responsible for the non-validation of a second game by reaffirming that it was above all a local internal refusal:
Local for sure. Don’t know what kind of heat they were getting from above.
– Jeff Ross (@JakeRocket) January 6, 2022
So what was the (real) problem behind it? Jeff Ross had underlined it after the paper of Jason Schreier, the lukewarm critics did not play in favor of a continuation. It includes the sacrosanct Metacritic, the aggregator of press and player ratings, widely scrutinized by the industry. The long development didn’t help either.
