Day 1 Promise Of PS Plus Driveclub May Never Be Delivered
One of the more candid, if not overlooked, executives over at Sony Computer Entertainment’s many international branches is that in SCEE president Jim Ryan. He doesn’t shy away from saying what is ahead for Sony, and often discusses the truth of his company’s nature when rumors are presented to him. That’s why, when presented with even the most difficult revelations about Driveclub in an interview with Metro, he didn’t outright claim that the game will ever see a free PlayStation Plus release.
In a refreshingly frank conversation about the current nature of games development (including broken game launches and Day 1 patches), Ryan was pressed about whether Driveclub will ever see the free PlayStation Plus version being released. He could only reply that it’s “still being looked at.” In a follow up whether he can or cannot guarantee it will eventually happen, instead of making a vague promise of assurance, he stated that he “can’t say anything at this stage.”
If that is so, then it marks a disappointing end to a promise literally years in the making. It was at E3 2013 (just 4 months after the initial reveal of both Driveclub and the PS4 itself) that the Driveclub PS Plus Edition would launch alongside the release of Driveclub proper. Not only did Driveclub get pushed back to October 2014, but the PS Plus Edition releasde was snubbed in order to properly prioritize fixing the broken online servers.
It was an initial announcement made to both extend the value of the PS Plus service, as well as generate interest in creating a PS4 system culture that shared quality video game releases as part of their online subscription service fairly soon after release. Launching a PS4 title on PS Plus on Day 1 meant giving a reason for people to pre-order the PS4 in the first place.
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For Driveclub to not only be a delayed launch title just weeks before the PS4 was to release, to not have a PS Plus Edition delayed to fix launch problems, to not even existing at all is a blatant disregard for the consumer at the expense of exploiting profits. Just as much as Halo: The Master Chief Collection and Assassin’s Creed Unity were launched to disastrous results, at the very least those publishers weren’t promoting a free version of the game in order to incentivize console sales. Sony’s first party studio efforts have been overwhelmingly dreadful in their early going, and if they continue to fall short of promises, it’s not like their 8th-gen market share lead is set in stone.
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