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Message from Shuhei Yoshida - President of World Wide Studios

Hi everyone,

I wanted to provide you with the latest update on DRIVECLUB. Unfortunately, the road to launch has been a little rocky, and we are truly sorry that so many of you have not been able to enjoy everything that we had hoped DRIVECLUB would deliver.
We have been listening to your feedback and realize that patience understandably is running out. Evo is working around the clock to close the gap, and we have deployed additional engineering resources to help resolve the remaining issues as soon as possible. Unfortunately, the time frames required to roll out the fully connected experience will be longer than anticipated and we do not have an exact time frame for when they will be resolved. We will continue to update you on progress and you can find the latest info on the DRIVECLUB Facebook page.
We are also very conscious that we have disappointed so many of you who were looking forward to playing the promised PS Plus Edition. Our first priority is to provide you with the best possible experience while playing DRIVECLUB. With the high volume of new players and additional server load the PS Plus Edition is anticipated to bring, we are currently not confident that we can guarantee the best online experience. Until we can ensure that everyone can enjoy the full social connected online experience, we will be postponing the release of the PS Plus Edition until further notice.
On behalf of WWS we are enormously grateful for your patience and we thank you for the continued support and encouragement. Again, we sincerely apologize for the delay. We are committed to giving you the best racing experience on PS4 – it’s taking a little longer than we hoped.

Thanks,

Shu

From the Driveclub Facebook page.

I am still a supporter of Evo and think the game is great, but many this launch really is going to kill the game's community. Looks like we could still be weeks or months away from it actually working, if it ever does. Very disappointing.

Also - sucks for everyone waiting on the PS+ edition. I don't think we'll be seeing it any time soon based on the wording in that message.

EDIT: Updating the OP with some information as a lot of people don't really seem to understand the situation.

Regarding the game's issues themselves:

The connectivity and server problems is not as simple as a case of not having enough servers - there is a fundamental flaw with the game design and how it interfaces with their network. This has nothing to do with PSN servers or Sony's larger infrastructure - it's limited to Evo's doors. There was also a public beta done a month or two prior to release that exhibited no signs of these problems.

Regarding first party studios like Evolution:

Sony's WWS are not all working under the same roof with every Sony asset available to them at any point.

They are still largely independent teams working all over the world in different offices. Sony signs their checks and assigns people to keep in touch with them, give them what they need/ask for, and make sure things are on schedule.

I don't really see how people can fault Sony as a whole for this problem - they can't possibly have their own independent team review every line of code in every game that the WWS put out. At some point you have trust that your teams are competent enough to ship a functional product, and it's obviously that Evolution made some mistakes here.

But your PS+ subscription and paid online multiplayer has pretty much nothing to do with what happened with Driveclub.

 

[King_Moc]

What a mess.

 

[Ashes]

Something pretty big must have happened internally I guess.

 

[bishoptl]

Having launched a social network from scratch for a previous game project (COH Online) I sympathize with what the Evolution guys are going through.

 

[SuicidalSteve]

So those people who got PS+ for Driveclub......hmmm what are they going to do?

 

[Nibel]

Shuhei Yoshida wrote a message on the Driveclub FB page.

We are also very conscious that we have disappointed so many of you who were looking forward to playing the promised PS Plus Edition. Our first priority is to provide you with the best possible experience while playing DRIVECLUB. With the high volume of new players and additional server load the PS Plus Edition is anticipated to bring, we are currently not confident that we can guarantee the best online experience. Until we can ensure that everyone can enjoy the full social connected online experience, we will be postponing the release of the PS Plus Edition until further notice.

Thanks to Wario64 for bringing this to my attention. Pull the brake if old.

 

[Dead Prince]

i guess during the ps3 era they didn't care much about online but honestly after this i hope they really crack down. this is unacceptable.

i'm just saying this so i can get the season pass, Thanks Shu plz.

 

[Kysen]

And with that the game is dead. Fucked up completely. This is admission that they didn't finish the network code.

 

[GameSeeker]

Given the situation, it's the smart move.

Releasing on PS+ would only add millions more users to the servers and bottleneck things even more.

First priority has to be to those to paid for the full version of DriveClub.

 

[Impeccable]

RIP The Driveclub brand.

 

[Dragon]

So those people who got PS+ for Driveclub......hmmm what are they going to do?

If you're one of those people I would ask for a refund from Sony.

 

[Heroman]

The biggest launch failure of this year.

 

[RoKKeR]

What a nightmare.

Rivaling BF4's launch here.

 

[Mesoian]

Ha.

Welp...

8 months, 2 betas, and the servers still don't work.

::SHRUG::

 

[entremet]

Man oh man. I wonder if Evo survives this debacle?

 

[Interfectum]

Just give me a free game of my choice in place of Driveclub.

 

[ChoklitCow]

I can see the rage now when the current iteration of the PS+ version never comes to be and instead six months down the road the full-version is given on PS+ as one of the month's free games.

 

[TaKeRx]

Wow. Sucks...

 

[LiK]

Disaster.

 

[ShockingAlberto]

It seems like this is exactly the sort of thing paying for online multiplayer was supposed to avoid.

 

[TRI Mike]

Greatness Awaits huh¿

 

[Guymelef]

RIP Evolution...

 

[boredofcanada]

I thought it was already postponed three weeks ago?

 

[Monster Zero]

"Feel free to still buy it for $60 though"

 

[KoopaTheCasual]

Embarrassing.

 

[ButchCat]

They could have apologized by giving out an extra game. Where do I sell this sorry?

 

[InsaneTiger]

If a game can be played offline, the ONLY feature that should be locked is online multiplayer. Everything else should be playable without being connected. This is ridiculous Sony/Evo.

All that PS Plus should be going to your damned servers.

Maybe Sony should move their servers to MS server farm.

 

[One-Shot]

So those people who got PS+ for Driveclub......hmmm what are they going to do?

I doubt they exist.

 

[SEGAvangelist]

This is awful.

 

[cakely]

Well, damn.

I ended up buying the full version (on disc! $50) but I really was looking forward to playing this with my friends that haven't bought the game yet.

 

[jbug617]

Maybe when they get ps+ version up they will add more content to it.

 

[SuicidalSteve]

If you're one of those people I would ask for a refund from Sony.

Nope not one of those people but unfortunatle for those that are

 

[Stone Ocean]

RIP The Driveclub brand.

More like RIP Evolution

 

[Portugeezer]

"Feel free to still buy it for $60 though"

Who in their right mind would do that knowing this?

Nope not one of those people but unfortunatle for those that are

It's a very specific situation, so yeah they could try asking for a refund for that PS+ month or whatever.

 

[Mesoian]

Meanwhile at Ubisoft

 

[jett]

Further Evolution games postponed until further notice.

 

[Radec]

Driveclub PS Wait edition.

 

[MidBoss]

"What the!"

 

[StrongBlackVine]

So those people who got PS+ for Driveclub......hmmm what are they going to do?

Nothing.

 

[Data West]

They could have apologized by giving out an extra game. Where do I sell this sorry?

Sadly, they only do that when they're losing.

 

[ambar_hitman]

So we need some compensation, like a free game or something. Or 3 months free PS Plus.

 

[Spectromixer]

At this point, I doubt it will ever happen, and even if it does there wont be very much fanfare around it.

 

[friskykillface]

Welp

I'll continue to wait, no need to rush out and buy the game with all the other games and deals right now and through the holidays

 

[Primeau31]

this is a disgrace. growing more and more disappointed with the PS4.

 

[Salvadora]

No form of compensation, however slight, surprises me.

 

[Alcoholikaust]

What a nightmare.

Rivaling BF4's launch here.

its worse- not being able to play conquest mode at launch is a different story than not being able to play any online

edit:my 4 close friends and I were able to play BF4 PS4 launch day in domination/rush modes

 

[TheHall]

Free Indie title incoming....

 

[Begaria]

Man oh man. I wonder if Evo survives this debacle?

They better. This is as much of a fuck up on Sony's part as Evo's. Killing a studio for one bad experience would be bonkers, given their pedigree up to now.

So. SimCity, Diablo 3, Driveclub...that socially connected online experience seems like a death knell for good public relations lately.

 

[liquidtmd]

Glad he's stepped in and addressed the elephant in the room.

I still dislike the concept of being deferred to a Facebook page for updates however.

 

[Cheat Code]

They're never using the Driveclub IP again.