Days Gone Dev Bend Studio Distances Itself From Former Director

Days Gone developer Bend Studio has recently distanced itself from its former creative director John Garvin after he shared a theory on why the 2019's zombie action-adventure game didn't sell well.

On December 7, Garvin took to Twitter to discuss Days Gone's middling reception and sales that didn't meet the developer's expectations.

According to the creative director, there were three reasons for that – the game had technical issues, "it had reviewers who couldn’t be bothered to actually play the game," and "it had woke reviewers who couldn’t handle a gruff white biker looking at his date’s ass."

Following the controversy that arose after Garvin's comment, the creative director deleted the tweet and set his Twitter account to private.

In a statement addressing Garvin's words, Bend Studio noted that Garvin's tweet only reflects his "personal view on the critical reception of [the studio's] intellectual property" and that the studio doesn't share its former creative director's opinion regarding Days Gone's poor reception.

"Bend Studio does not share [Garvin's] sentiment, nor does it reflect the views of our team," Bend Studio wrote. "Our studio is immensely proud of the work we accomplished on Days Gone and are thankful to every developer who poured their heart and soul into it. We are incredibly humbled by the support of our Days Gone community and we will continue to share your enthusiasm for our world and characters as we look toward the future."

This isn’t the first time Garvin has expressed quite controversial opinions. Last year, the developer told gamers that if they love a game, they should "buy it at fucking full price" and that they shouldn't complain in case a game doesn’t get a sequel if they aren’t willing to pay full price for it. At the time, he also admitted that he was fired from Bend for his personality which he himself confirmed to be "disruptive."