“Don’t complain if a game doesn’t get a sequel if it wasn’t supported at launch”... Do you agree?

[Carol 3,642]

https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/days-gone-lead-says-dont-complain-if-theres-no-sequel-if-you-didnt-buy-it-full-price/

 

What’s your opinion about this idea?

In my case, I kinda agree with this, but, unfortunately, I can’t always afford games at launch/full price. I always try to support developers and, especially, PS exclusives, but spending 60€/70€ is not always possible for me. 
In the particular case of “Days Gone”, I think the game was quite buggy at launch and the reviews weren’t that amazing, so maybe that’s why many people didn’t buy it right away. I definitely don’t regret spending 40€ on DG, less than two years ago, even if it’s now free for PS Plus members.

 I think supporting the games we’re interested in is important, even if they don’t turn out to be mind-blowing.

[WishingLemon 164]

I kind of agree, and I get the logic behind it. And I definitely agree that supporting the things you DO want is as important as not supporting the things you don't. The downside is that gaming is so large and mainstream now that voting with your wallet barely makes a dent. Me not buying the latest Pokemon game because I didn't like that they'd cut out half the Pokemon to then later add as DLC ultimately doesn't matter because they're still the third best selling Pokemon game ever.

And they're going to be charging $70 for games that are still buggy, broken, and riddled with microtransactions. So I can quite easily say that the majority of games aren't worth buying on release for that alone.

[xh117 315]

Did he really compare sales of Days Gone to God of War? A lot of people were turned off to Days Gone because of mediocre reviews and bugs at launch. If you want people to buy at launch it has to be worth full price, this wasn't.

[darkrequiem7 251]

If you want me to buy games at launch, release full, complete games that don't require weeks and months of patching and don't receive DLC that will eventually be bundled into a "complete edition."

[DaivRules 14,809]

If you define “launch” as the first six months after release, then yes. That will make it much more likely to get a sequel green lit sooner.
 

Doesn’t guarantee anything though and long term consistent sales can also show that a sequel could be warranted, but a developer is going to want to recoup costs sooner than later. 

[Seasonreaper 128]

I bought Gravity Rush 2 on launch and now the studio's dead and the director's off making other cool stuff.

 

On one hand buying the game on release clearly didn't get a sequel, but maybe the people who bought it allowed Toyama and some of his team to go on to their own studio, so I guess?

 

Then again there's only a couple of studios I even have enough trust in to think about supporting day one, namely Vanillaware and Supergiant, and they don't do sequels anyway.

[GTA_Darren 520]

If this is how we can get sequel. Then, I don't want a sequel.

[Studfox 112]

I could see this argument if it was a grassroots indie game but Days Gone had the full force of Sony in a huge marketing push when it was released and didn’t have the ROI that Sony wanted from mixed reviews so of course they are skeptical on a sequel.

 

It’s similar to Anthem and EA, EA dumped a ton of money into anthem marketing and it flopped. Even if an Anthem sequel came out, EA knew that everyone would be wary of buying it at launch due to the rocky launch of the first. I think Sony thought the same with Days Gone.

[ShadeSplit 722]

Since I'm not guaranteed the game won't need to be fixed with many patches, I can't guarantee them any money. I have no interest in battling through glitches, so I will wait.

[RedHotChiliFan1 127]

It's only worth it, if it is a fully functional game with all its content.

And there are not many. 

[sepheroithisgod 2,743]

Sadly this is the truth for many games. I've read that many games, get the majority of their sales with the first two weeks to 1 month. After this, the games enter the second hand market like Gamestop, Ebay, etc. all of those copies that are resold don't help the devs or publisher in any way.

 

That said, many people have becomes reluctant to pay full price at launch any more due to the unfinished products that are being released. Thus, they really only have themselves to blame.

 

If I'm hyped for a game, I buy it day 1, if not I do wait for a big sale. I try to avoid second hand copies whenever possible.

[starcrunch061 10,816]

53 minutes ago, Carol said:

https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/days-gone-lead-says-dont-complain-if-theres-no-sequel-if-you-didnt-buy-it-full-price/

 

What’s your opinion about this idea?

In my case, I kinda agree with this, but, unfortunately, I can’t always afford games at launch/full price. I always try to support developers and, especially, PS exclusives, but spending 60€/70€ is not always possible for me. 
In the particular case of “Days Gone”, I think the game was quite buggy at launch and the reviews weren’t that amazing, so maybe that’s why many people didn’t buy it right away. I definitely don’t regret spending 40€ on DG, less than two years ago, even if it’s now free for PS Plus members.

 I think supporting the games we’re interested in is important, even if they don’t turn out to be mind-blowing.

 

I think he's full of shit.

 

Actually, I think he's lost his mind in this case. You can't expect people to buy a new IP sight unseen at launch, even assuming that the game ran perfectly. There is often a slow burn of success (look at Demon's Souls, for example). New IPs have to wait for word of mouth.

 

Of course, with Sony's new "blockbuster" mentality, who knows? But this feels like blaming the consumer for a developer/publisher issue.

Edited April 18, 2021 by starcrunch061

[Banana_Xtreme 5]

I see his logic, and agree, but as a consumer, I can certainly say that that is not how the real world works. I think however, that this should be a good opportunity for producers to actually see how broken the pricing in the videogame industry is.

 

A couple of points, just like you, I am from Portugal, and it is at the very least suboptimal to have an asking price for a new game of 70€ here, just like in Germany, Switzerland or other Scandinavian countries. Totally different income levels. That issue should be tackled. Moreover, let's not forget that, if not most, a large section of hardcore gamers are younger people, a lot of whom don't have their own streams of income. Their parents naturally can't be expected to comply to their every whim.

 

Now, some rant not pertaining to the pricing itself, but it's 2021, there are years of cheap backlog gaming for one to satisfy one's gaming needs. Add into that freebies like Plus and what not, and yeah... it becomes an easy choice. "I'm sorry bro, I'm not paying 70€ for your buggy ass game when that's what I paid for The Witcher, because I doubt it can ever be on par with that even with all the patches and updates of this world..."

[KondeBra 233]

6 minutes ago, starcrunch061 said:

 

I think he's full of shit.

 

Actually, I think he's lost his mind in this case. You can't expect people to buy a new IP sight unseen at launch, even assuming that the game ran perfectly. There is often a slow burn of success (look at Demon's Souls, for example). New IPs have to wait for word of mouth.

 

Of course, with Sony's new "blockbuster" mentality, who knows? But this feels like blaming the consumer for a developer/publisher issue.

But at the same time you have new IPs, games like Horizon Zero Dawn and Ghost of Tsushima, with huge success at launch.

 

Days Gone is a great game, but was bombarded with average reviews and performance issues, just like another great game who had the same problems, Driveclub. At least the studio still exists, unlike Evolution.

Edited April 18, 2021 by KondeBra

[EcoShifter 1,062]

He's completely right, as evidence often shows. It's the same reason why we're getting a completely and utterly unneeded remake of The Last of Us.

 

1 hour ago, Seasonreaper said:

I bought Gravity Rush 2 on launch and now the studio's dead and the director's off making other cool stuff.

 

On one hand buying the game on release clearly didn't get a sequel, but maybe the people who bought it allowed Toyama and some of his team to go on to their own studio, so I guess?

 

Then again there's only a couple of studios I even have enough trust in to think about supporting day one, namely Vanillaware and Supergiant, and they don't do sequels anyway.

 

Why are you comparing yourself to groups of people. Your single support can never fund a sequel or convince the publishers to make a sequel. This is about the collective support from a large group of people, not a single person or a few people. (I also purchased the game Day 1.) The fate of Japan Studio and Gravity Rush is entirely peoples' fault for not supporting the game enough (plus some of Sony's not too good marketing). The series, as in both games separately, has had a problem selling even one million. I don't think GR2 even exceeded that much. Definitely not 2 million. "Everyone" knows about the original GR on its original debut platform, and yet even that version didn't make top 10 best selling Vita games list (US). It's a great series that deserves to be relevant, but people ignore it and don't support it. The same director you mentioned was still up for making more GR games, but it was impossible without people's support. His and the studio's fate is all on the people.

 

That's why the Days Gone's Director's actual point is ultimately true. Horizon Zero Dawn, Marvel Spider-Man, The Last of Us, God of War, etc, are all happening due to their tremendous launch support and positive reception (even though I've personally noticed several things Days Gone does better than HZD but w/e).

Edited April 18, 2021 by EcoShifter

[MandA60VISE 787]

How would I know I want a sequel until I've played the game? If I'm uncertain I'd like the game why would I buy it at launch for full price? It just screams that someone is blaming the consumers when their product wasn't as successful as they wanted it to be.

[Viper 3,005]

No thanks. 

 

So few games are worth $60, I'm much happier just waiting awhile and getting the game in the $20 price range ($30 if I REALLY want it), than breaking the bank at launch. I don't mind supporting the devs, but stretching my dollar as far as it can go is just more important to me.

 

Besides, I've been practicing this for over a decade now...and plenty of games have gotten sequels. You aren't missing my money that much. Not to mention not even knowing if I'll want said sequel until I play it...therefore waiting to pay less only makes that much more sense. 

 

Sony is the one who canceled this sequels...I don't see why the blame is being put on us now. 

Edited April 18, 2021 by Viper

[Soraking1991 164]

I understand the logic behind it but there's an issue with the statement...

 

How can we know we want a sequel without actually having bought the game in the first place? We can only know we want a sequel if we've bought and played the game (and enjoyed it), but we won't buy the game day one if we aren't sure we want it, it's good, we'll like it or any other reason, so... what should we do?

 

I think it's very unfair for a big business like Sony (or anyone related to them) to make us the consumers responsible for their strict "policies".

 

[AgentSmiz 541]

"John Garvin also says his departure from Bend Studio was based on personality, not performance".

Based on him pretty much saying that unless you paid full price at launch, you've not supported the game enough and don't have a right to complain about a lack of a sequel, then I can guess that he was a bit of a knob to work with.

Don't agree with his take.

Edited April 18, 2021 by AgentSmiz

[GoldenShaka 2,162]

Bring me a strong list of games which don't require day one patch and i could consider that "on release day " accurate.

Very few games I preorder, supporting the developer, I don't expect sequels but at least a good finished product.

[ThE_mAnIaC_417 69]

I mean, how am I supposed to know if I want a sequel before I play it? I can't buy every single game that comes out immediately at launch full price.

[Trini 1,692]

Did this guy really just compared sale figures of a new IP like Days Gone to an established franchise like God of War to make his point?

[Stan Lee 11,408]

I bought a couple of games last generation new at full price either on launch day or soon after. Only a select few were really worth it. Days Gone was not one of them, unfortunately, so I can wait a while for a proper sequel if there'll ever be one.

[N7Spartansw0rd 28]

I definitely agree, no doubt about it

[MyNameIs_Rainman 595]

I love Square Enix, primarily because I'm a big FF fan. I don't endlessly support them by tossing money at their games, but whenever there are new RPGs that they produce, I'm much more inclined to vote with my wallet. Especially as of late, as they have been porting, remastering and remaking games from their backlog...games I grew up with and enjoyed or even some games I never took the opportunity to play. So I'm very excited for the SaGa Frontier remaster cause I never played it.. and Legend Of Mana remaster because that game is dear to me from my younger days. And I know I'm just one player, but my money hopefully with others will show SE that I want more of that, and that they continue to give more of that. 

 

So for new releases like Returnal, I think it's something different for Sony, so yeah I'll get it on launch or within the first few months to show support. Most likely ill give it a bit and see what players say. I'm not a big shooter person, but Outriders seemed interesting, and based off of player reactions, its a solid game. I didnt get it right on launch, but I picked it up a bit after. And some games, like the Order, I supported and they are nowhere to be seen but I would love it if they went back to it. I feel like too much light is being shone on this whole canned Days Gone 2..i think that Sony just is focusing on TLOU to keep capitalizing on the culture around it especially since they have the show in the works. Keep the hype, keep the name going, keep the interest going, etc. I havent played Days Gone yet so I cant comment, but everyone I know who played it has enjoyed it so theres interest for more, but maybe it just wasnt in the cards for them at the moment.

 

At the end of the day we can only fault ourselves for not being informed buyers. So despite all the reviews, commentary etc, we vote with our wallets and just have to hope that the developer didnt take advantage of that faith we have and give us a shit product.