Days Gone studio "do not share" former director's views on its critical reception
Thrown under the motorbike
Yesterday morning, John Garvin, the creative director of underwhelming zombie biker drama Days Gone tweeted that its poor reception was due to "woke reviewers". In a statement released this evening, Garvin's former employers and Days Gone developers Bend Studio say they do "not share his sentiment, nor does it reflect the views of our team."
Bend Studio released the statement via Twitter:
"We are aware of the comments made by our previous Creative Director on Days Gone regarding his personal view on the critical reception of our intellectual property," starts the statement. "Bend Studio does not share his sentiment, nor does it reflect the views of our team. 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."
In a since-deleted (but archived) response to a Twitter user wondering why Days Gone "didn't get universal praise from critics", Garvin had offered three reasons: "tech issues like bugs", "reviewers who couldn't be bothered to actually play the game", and that "it had woke reviewers who couldn't handle a gruff white biker looking at his date's ass."
Garvin left Bend Studio in 2020 and is currently the writer and director of Ashfall, an NFT game tied to the blockchain.
We didn't review Days Gone when it eventually came to PC, but Katharine did have fun erasing its protagonist's bike in photo mode.