GameSpot gave Days Gone a 5/10. It sold 9 million copies.

Five out of ten. That number took seven years to build and one review cycle to destroy.

Here's what a 5/10 from GameSpot means in the real world: Sony's executives pull up Metacritic, look at the aggregated number, and make decisions about sequels. Jeff Ross—the director, the guy who shipped this game—went on camera and said it out loud. Your score helped kill Days Gone 2. Not speculation. Not a fan theory. The man who made the game told you to your face, and the internet shrugged because it happened to a game about bikers and zombies instead of whatever indie darling was trending that week.

The review reads like it was written with one eye on the clock. 'Doesn't do enough to stand out' is the kind of line you write when you've been playing for four hours and you have a Sekiro review due on Thursday. You know what makes Days Gone stand out? The 500-zombie horde that rewrites how you approach an entire region of the map. But that requires actually getting there, and GameSpot reviewed this game like they were speed-running a Tinder profile—swipe left in three seconds, next.

Nine million copies sold. Very Positive on Steam. You know who buys games on Steam? People using their own money. Not people who received a code in a press email alongside a fact sheet and an embargo date. When 9 million people disagree with your 5/10, the question stops being 'was the game good?' and starts being 'how long did you actually play it?'

I've been on the other end of a review like this. You sit there reading someone describe your work as 'competent but unremarkable' and you realize they're not reviewing your game—they're reviewing their own attention span. The difference is my project didn't get cancelled. Jeff Ross's did.

Easy to say from the press box. Harder to say when you're the reason someone's studio doesn't get a second chance.