'Days Gone' Called Disappointing Despite Matching 'Ghost Of Tsushima' Sales, Dev Claims

Yesterday, it was announced that Ghost Of Tsushima has sold over eight million copies since its release almost 18 months ago which is an absolutely stunning shift. This makes it one of the highest-selling original titles on the PlayStation and, using that metric, so is Days Gone. The apocalyptic action-adventure that apparently didn't do well enough to warrant a second entry in the series. Yeah.

According to director Jeff Ross, Days Gone sold more copies than all of the developer's previous titles together and hit the eight million sales mark in the same window of time as Ghost of Tsushima, with a subsequent one million copies sold on PC when the port was released in the spring of 2021. That is impressive yet sadly not impressive enough for Sony. A report from Bloomberg alleged that the publisher wasn't a fan of Bend Studio's pitch for a continuation of Deacon St John's story and focused its efforts on a remake for The Last of Us for the PlayStation 5 instead. In short, if it ain't broke, Sony's will wrap it back up again and offer it to you with shiny bells and whistles.

Take a gander at Days Gone running on a PC with new features and optimisations that bring a splendidly sickly sheen to the frothing hordes of Freakers!

Former Bend Studio director and writer John Garvin insinuated that the commercial and critical reception of Days Gone was a factor in an interview last year. "I'm just saying don't complain if a game doesn't get a sequel if it wasn't supported at launch," he said about the inclusion of the game in a PlayStation Plus offering and the PS Plus Collection for the PlayStation 5. "So I think the uptick in engagement with the game is not as important as, did you buy the game at full price? Because if you did, then that's supporting the developers directly." 

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

Ross has now said he's surprised that "local studio management always made us feel like it was a big disappointment" that Days Gone only managed to make eight million sales in an 18 month period since its launch when Ghost of Tsushima has achieved precisely that too. Days Gone wasn't met with the critical praise that Ghost of Tsushima was, yes, but there's a huge amount of love for the game. Consider the swathes and swathes of players campaigning for a sequel once word got out that Sony had rejected the studio's pitch. Hopefully there's still an opportunity for Bend Studio to return to the game, but it does have its hands full with a new project.