Days Gone Director Disses Sony Handling of Franchise

Days Gone director Jeff Ross says Sony treated Days Gone "like a big disappointment," despite it selling more than 8 million copies by late 2020.

Ross, who left Sony in late 2020, reacted to news of Ghost of Tsushima crossing the 8 million sales mark by comparing it to his own game's success.

"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," he wrote. "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."

Ross said Sony's decision not to develop a sequel was "weird!" He and development studio Sony Bend tried to pitch the sequel to Sony in 2019.

Although a Bloomberg report indicated Sony turned it down because critical reception to the first game had been mixed despite a long development cycle, Ross says Sony "never even read the pitch." He also acknowledged the game's relatively low score on Metacritic — 71 — but said Sony was specifically disappointed in "sales, not the scores."

"Development was a long slog, but we were a small team learning how to make our first open world game. All things considered, it's amazing we finished at all," he wrote.

"Even the first Killzone got a 70 on metacritic, but the sequel roared back with a 91. You gotta crawl before you can walk, and walk before you can run."

Sony has yet to comment on Ross' tweets, or shed light on the pitch process for Days Gone 2. Sony Bend is now split between working on a multiplayer game with Naughty Dog and an original game of its own.