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Driveclub PS Plus Edition Delayed by Server Issues

Nesther

Member
You realize Sony owns Evolution Studios, right?

And that excludes them from the Plus money fountain? The Plus subscriptions in no way financed the game?

In that case, I guess I can wait a bit longer for the game, until the people who pay for it have a functioning product. I always assumed I was paying/funding the game with my subscription, but it seems that's not correct.
 

Tagg9

Member
And that excludes them from the Plus money fountain? The Plus subscriptions in no way financed the game?

In that case, I guess I can wait a bit longer for the game, until the people who pay for it have a functioning product. I always assumed I was paying/funding the game with my subscription, but it seems that's not correct.

Sony pays them a set amount of money to make the game. They're unlikely to get a share of the profits as an internal studio.
 
Sony used driveclub as one of the main ps+ selling points since the reveal. Evo should have planned better.

As many have said, there should have been a beta. Stress testing the servers prior to release to ensure everything works would have been more productive than the devs stressing post release to get it working.
 

wickfut

Banned
As many have said, there should have been a beta. Stress testing the servers prior to release to ensure everything works would have been more productive than the devs stressing post release to get it working.

How do you know there wasn't a closed beta with a strict NDA?
 
How do you know there wasn't a closed beta with a strict NDA?
There were closed betas. Many of us are saying that in retrospect, they clearly should have done a more open beta. They could have found the server code issue way earlier.
Not a real holiday. I don't have off.

I doubt anyone is doing anything on a weekend.
Not true. Rushy has said they're working 24/7. I would think that this is a dire emergency and calls for all hands on deck.
 

FeiRR

Banned
As many have said, there should have been a beta. Stress testing the servers prior to release to ensure everything works would have been more productive than the devs stressing post release to get it working.

Alphas and open betas didn't help Battlefield. Nor did experience from previous releases. They were all fucked up, the last one for months/a year (depending what you consider a broken game).
 
You are wrong. Sony provides the hardware. Evo does the server code. The issue is the server code, not the hardware.

Yes, there was a mention of concurrency in one of the posts, that's a whole different kettle of fish. You can't fit a concurrency issue by throwing hardware at it, it fact more hardware could make it worse.
 

Verendus

Banned
Unfortunately, many members (all of them) of Evolution went skiing in the Alps this weekend. They're actually enjoying their time off now that Driveclub has released and been successful. Maybe Driveclub will work for the rest of the peasants next month, but for now, it's clearly all about that weather. In the Alps.

Someone should notify IGN. This seems like their kind of news story.
 

Copenap

Member
Alphas and open betas didn't help Battlefield. Nor did experience from previous releases. They were all fucked up, the last one for months/a year (depending what you consider a broken game).
In the case of Battlefield they were well aware that the game was broken, EA just didn't care. We don't know if that is the case for DC afaik.
 

hamchan

Member
Alphas and open betas didn't help Battlefield. Nor did experience from previous releases. They were all fucked up, the last one for months/a year (depending what you consider a broken game).

The thing is people notice when servers fail but never when they work perfectly. You point out that the alphas and betas didn't help Battlefield but who knows how many games have benefited from having a stress test beta.

Just look at Destiny and how smoothly that launched after having extensive alphas and betas, and that probably has 10x the amount of people playing as Driveclub.
 

wickfut

Banned
Unfortunately, many members (all of them) of Evolution went skiing in the Alps this weekend. They're actually enjoying their time off now that Driveclub has released and been successful. Maybe Driveclub will work for the rest of the peasants next month, but for now, it's clearly all about that weather. In the Alps.

Someone should notify IGN. This seems like their kind of news story.

so who was writing the updates we've received?
 
Well I caved yesterday afternoon and bought it and have no regrets even though I'm not huge into racing games. The load times are phenomenal which really lends itself to the one-more-go kind of mentality playing it.
 
Alphas and open betas didn't help Battlefield. Nor did experience from previous releases. They were all fucked up, the last one for months/a year (depending what you consider a broken game).
That's because EA is terrible and chose to ship a broken product. I'd like to think that if Evo had an open beta and found a problem, they would have delayed or fixed it.
 

doby

Member
Evolution mentions on their Driveclub page that they did indeed run a beta.

They did although the focus of it was how the 'Fame' system would fair on a wider scale and not solely just a server stress test. The servers held up well in the closed beta so I really think the problems they have faced since release are completely unforeseen and unexpected.
 

FeiRR

Banned
In the case of Battlefield they were well aware that the game was broken, EA just didn't care. We don't know if that is the case for DC afaik.

I wasn't trying to imply that. I just know that testing server workload doesn't necessarily scale up linearly. It doesn't make any sense to release a broken new IP like that. EA knew that we'd buy it anyway. And they were right, which is the saddest part.

The thing is people notice when servers fail but never when they work perfectly. You point out that the alphas and betas didn't help Battlefield but who knows how many games have benefited from having a stress test beta.

Just look at Destiny and how smoothly that launched after having extensive alphas and betas, and that probably has 10x the amount of people playing as Driveclub.

Probably Activision has better market research to predict the number of server slots they need to put up. Also remember that the official version here is a server-side bug which makes the number of servers obsolete because a bug can just take them down.
 

Agent X

Member
Okay...care to expand on that? You got your 6 freebies for October. Enjoy them they're amazing.

PlayStation Plus subscribers are entitled to what they were told would be a benefit for their paid subscription. Driveclub PlayStation Plus Edition was one of those promised benefits.

Normally, it wouldn't be a big deal if a game's release is pushed back for a few days or even weeks, especially if the public is given advance notice. Driveclub PS+ Edition is somewhat of an exception, for these two reasons:

1. This game was heavily promoted as a PS+ perk for more than a year, even before the PlayStation 4 system itself was released. This was an enticement to attract sales of PS+ subscriptions and PS4 systems. They were still promoting this game as recently as October 1 on PlayStation.Blog (click here to read the blog post), stating that it would be available on October 7.

2. There was no advance notice of the delay. On October 7, Sony posted the store update (click here), and conveniently "forgot" to mention the existence of Driveclub PS+ Edition, let alone that it wasn't going to be released that day.

If the developers don't want more strain on the servers they should pull the full game from the store as well until they fix the issue

I agree with this. It's peculiar that in the face of so many network problems, they have no problem taking people's money here. If the PS+ freebie version was rescinded under the guise of not wanting players to suffer a suboptimal and disappointing experience, then by that same token they should also rescind the paid version of the game.
 

Verendus

Banned
Sony should announce a small price cut for the PS4 in the next month. Build some goodwill off that, and the savings people make from that price cut will allow them to purchase PS+, but they won't feel as disappointed since they saved some money, and it will feel like they didn't really pay the full price for PS+. It's like getting more for less, with a little less included.

Brilliant plan. I'm quite pleased really.
 
Why doesn't Sony share their netcode and servers around their 1st Party studios?

How could MAG matchmake 256 people into a game with absolutely ZERO lag, but the DriveClub servers get nuked?

Note: obviously different studios, one of which is closed down now
 
To everyone upset, I get it, but you are acting like you will never get the game.

The draw was it being there day one. Lets be honest, it's just a stripped down version designed to try and get more full purchases. As the days go by, and larger releases loom, it matters less and less
 
PlayStation Plus subscribers are entitled to what they were told would be a benefit for their paid subscription. Driveclub PlayStation Plus Edition was one of those promised benefits.

Normally, it wouldn't be a big deal if a game's release is pushed back for a few days or even weeks, especially if the public is given advance notice. Driveclub PS+ Edition is somewhat of an exception, for these two reasons:

1. This game was heavily promoted as a PS+ perk for more than a year, even before the PlayStation 4 system itself was released. This was an enticement to attract sales of PS+ subscriptions and PS4 systems. They were still promoting this game as recently as October 1 on PlayStation.Blog (click here to read the blog post), stating that it would be available on October 7.

2. There was no advance notice of the delay. On October 7, Sony posted the store update (click here), and conveniently "forgot" to mention the existence of Driveclub PS+ Edition, let alone that it wasn't going to be released that day.



I agree with this. It's peculiar that in the face of so many network problems, they have no problem taking people's money here. If the PS+ freebie version was rescinded under the guise of not wanting players to suffer a suboptimal and disappointing experience, then by that same token they should also rescind the paid version of the game.
There's a difference between rescinding a game and delaying it.

I don't think most publishers in their right mind would stop all sales of a product that's going through a rough launch. But delaying the free version seems like the lesser of two evils. Imagine the bitching from people who wouldn't be able to buy the game.
 

th4tguy

Member
Why doesn't Sony share their netcode and servers around their 1st Party studios?

How could MAG matchmake 256 people into a game with absolutely ZERO lag, but the DriveClub servers get nuked?

Note: obviously different studios, one of which is closed down now
Mag didn't have a very large user base as evidence by their shutting down.
I have this sneaky suspicion that a lot of the server issues and holding back of the ps+ version for the 2.0 firm ware update going out Tuesday.
My guess is the firm ware update actually requires a lot of updating of the backend servers which is why service has been so spotty. It was supposed to be done and go live with the release of drive club but got delayed by a week.
 

wapplew

Member
Mag didn't have a very large user base as evidence by their shutting down.
I have this sneaky suspicion that a lot of the server issues and holding back of the ps+ version for the 2.0 firm ware update going out Tuesday.
My guess is the firm ware update actually requires a lot of updating of the backend servers which is why service has been so spotty. It was supposed to be done and go live with the release of drive club but got delayed by a week.

Wait 2.0 on Tuesday?
On topic, I think driveclub network usage might be higher than we think.
It constant upload your score like every corner, and the server need to pair you with a score a little higher than you or from your friends,
It try to connect you to the server every time your start a race, even a quick restart it try to connect.
I think the social stuff mess things up. The multiplayer sessions I got in, actually pretty smooth.
 
Mag didn't have a very large user base as evidence by their shutting down.
I have this sneaky suspicion that a lot of the server issues and holding back of the ps+ version for the 2.0 firm ware update going out Tuesday.
My guess is the firm ware update actually requires a lot of updating of the backend servers which is why service has been so spotty. It was supposed to be done and go live with the release of drive club but got delayed by a week.

Why would FW 2.00 require an unusual amount of server updates though? I'd imagine they update the servers all the time, this just sounds like wishful thinking to me.
 
To be completely honest, I opened the retail version because I was tired of waiting to demo the PS+ version. I had fully intended to demo the PS+ version, first.

I don't think Evo is doing this, or hope not, but it is definitely not out of the realm of possibility that the PS+ version is being held back to push sales. Their reasoning of server load makes no sense when they could patch the PS+ version to not access the server. It's not like I have access with my paid retail copy. I have been able to make a club and update the logo once. Apart from that, nothing.
It's not so trivial to patch it out as you might think. The time it takes to patch it out is probably at least as long as it takes to resolve the server issues so it's not worth the effort.
 
It's not so trivial to patch it out as you might think. The time it takes to patch it out is probably at least as long as it takes to resolve the server issues so it's not worth the effort.

How hard could it be to point the game to an invalid ip address? They've already patched the client network code. Implying they can't look through the files and find where the ip/domain is listed is ridiculous.

That said, I don't think the decision is down to Evo, the publisher will be making the calls on what to postpone and what to fix.
 

th4tguy

Member
Why would FW 2.00 require an unusual amount of server updates though? I'd imagine they update the servers all the time, this just sounds like wishful thinking to me.
New functionality requires backend updates and 2.0 is supposed to have a lot. You never want to update your servers all at the same time nor on the day you go live. You take down a percentage and update the prior and test to make sure there aren't any issues ( performance issues over the past week). Then on go live day, you make those servers your primaries and bring the others down to update them (Monday's maintenance). Once updated and tested you bring them back up and add them to the primary group. The. You push the firmware update.
They always do maintenance the Monday before a major firmware release.
 

OccamsLightsaber

Regularly boosts GAF member count to cry about 'right wing gaf' - Voter #3923781
To be completely honest, I opened the retail version because I was tired of waiting to demo the PS+ version. I had fully intended to demo the PS+ version, first.

I don't think Evo is doing this, or hope not, but it is definitely not out of the realm of possibility that the PS+ version is being held back to push sales. Their reasoning of server load makes no sense when they could patch the PS+ version to not access the server. It's not like I have access with my paid retail copy. I have been able to make a club and update the logo once. Apart from that, nothing.

A neutered version of the game is not what they intend to have the world play.
 

hetchi

Member
So Driveclub costs $50 for PS+ subscribers? Am I right on this? I was going through the thread and people keep mentioning different versions.
 
New functionality requires backend updates and 2.0 is supposed to have a lot. You never want to update your servers all at the same time nor on the day you go live. You take down a percentage and update the prior and test to make sure there aren't any issues ( performance issues over the past week). Then on go live day, you make those servers your primaries and bring the others down to update them (Monday's maintenance). Once updated and tested you bring them back up and add them to the primary group. The. You push the firmware update.
They always do maintenance the Monday before a major firmware release.

What is you source for 2.0 coming on Tuesday?
 
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