Update: We know many of you were looking forward to playing the promised PS Plus Edition and we are truly sorry for the delay. 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.
In DRIVECLUB you’re never alone. It brings people together. From the hardest of the hardcore, to the occasional player, it’s you and your five mates against the world. Driving together to win together.
In the first of today’s two DRIVECLUB explained videos, find out how Clubs work and why you should be in one.
Completing Face-offs and Challenges in DRIVECLUB represent more than just a way to score FAME. They give you another reason to race aside from just coming in first.
Check out the second video below for an overview of how they work, and how they’ll benefit you and your Club.
@GummyCore, that argument is invalid because you’re comparing a lower-budget indie game to a high-budget first-party game, coming from a MUCH larger studio with many more employees. I know what + is for and I know that our subscription fees allow the perks we get. Do you really think anyone doesn’t understand that already? It’s not the same ballpark with AAA games. Driveclub is expected to generated many million of dollars in revenue at retail, just as Knack has already done, which is why it’s being offered for free in the East now, where a western-style game wouldn’t sell as well anyway. Sony is not going to give that up (profits from Driveclub). Perhaps in a couple of years when that game isn’t very profitable anymore, we’ll see the full version in the IGC.
Driveclub was NEVER planned to be 100% free. We knew before the PS4 launched that what we’d be getting is a stripped-down, PlayStation Plus edition. If you didn’t know that, then I guess you should have been paying better attention. I knew it, which is why I pre-ordered Driveclub before the delay was announced, even though my PS+ subscription was already good for another year and a half.
@PanTheMan16 “Driveclub was NEVER planned to be 100% free. We knew before the PS4 launched that what we’d be getting is a stripped-down, PlayStation Plus edition.”
Of course- it was planned (and promised) to be “the full game minus a few cars/tracks.” That’s a quote from the man himself, Paul Rustchynsky, found in this article from the Official Playstation Magazine: www (DOT) officialplaystationmagazine (DOT) co (DOT) uk/2013/09/02/driveclub-ps-plus-version-is-the-full-game-minus-a-few-carstracks-includes-platinum-trophy/
Eighty percent is not “a few” in any context. Sony promised one thing and (a year late, no less) is delivering something far, far less substantial. If you’re happy with the situation, that’s fine- but customers who aren’t have every right to complain about this bait-and-switch.
Guys… Sheep are always gonna be sheep, it’s pointless to try and change that.
The important thing, regardless what anyone tries to convince you of, is that we in fact DID make a difference by voicing our dissatisfaction with that new change in policy. Cause that’s what it was boys and girls… I could give a rats rear end how many disagree… Anyone who has seen these companies get greedier and greedier over the years… Anyone who has been gaming since the start of all this like I have knows where this little “toe in the water” was going… And they pulled a Microsoft on us. You did that… We did that…the community.
THATS what matters. So the game is for keeps… Or demo if you prefer. Does that aspect really matter? It’s still not a complete game. If it was promised as complete or not I can’t say so I’m not gonna argue but I hope the community as a whole (those of us who aren’t here just cause they like to argue) continue to be vocal about what we don’t like and crap we won’t stand for.
@terminode, this is probably what was intended all along. It was never specified how much or how little content PS+ subscribers would actually have access to. If they were to give people the full game, minus a couple DLC’s worth of cars and tracks, then where would be the incentive for people to buy the full game? Maybe they did originally plan to give people more. Maybe they didn’t. But the fact that they never specified gives us too little information to really be upset about. There was no bait-and-switch here, as no one was required to invest anything in the first place. Sure, full games are nice, it’s naive for people to think we’ll be getting AAA titles for free less than a year into the PS4’s lifespan.
I’m buying this game retail anyway so it doesn’t matter to me.
@PanTheMan16, No bait-and-switch? Did you not read all the links given just above stating that the PS+ Edition is supposed to be full game “less a few cars/tracks”? What is there to disbelieve? Obviously some bean counters did the math and decided it is/was profitable to do so and they announced it (this is more than just a verbal contract with us). As I said, they are not insane, this is business, the game was originally planned to be given away as launch promotion, it’s part of PS4’s marketing expense.
It’s like you get a ‘free’ toy with every Happy Meal or whatever ‘freebies’ you get when you buy whatever. Nothing is free, the toy makers are not giving them out for free, McDonalds is paying the toy makers at volume discount. McDonalds is not doing it for free, they want people to go to their restaurants and charge you for the food, and especially drinks, at high profit margin.
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An indie studio with small staff makes small game and small revenue, a big studio with hundreds of employees makes AAA games and big revenue – It could all balance out. Who says a big budget AAA game is ENTITLED to exponentially higher profit, ENTITLED to many million dollars of revenue? The game was delayed, are WE to bear responsibility for that? Does delays in a game’s production (increased cost etc) ENTITLE the dev/publisher to be compensated with higher revenue? (How much did you pay for Duke Nukem Forever?)
Knack has already generated all the profit it could so it’s offered for free in Japan? You really think Knack has gone thru its whole sales cycle in just a few month?
What they did not specify was how long a 90% full game is to be offered on IGC. They could very well put it up for a month and remove it, continuing to charge full price after that. Again, this is business, if you don’t believe me, go believe Sony/Revolution – they did the math and it makes/made business sense to them, that’s why they announced it that way.
Sorry if you’ve already answered this, but since we get like 4/5 of the game with PS+ do we have to pay $60 to get the other 1/5 of the game if we decide to upgrade?
@Ace2540 – you misunderstand. The Plus Edition is only about 1/5th of the full game. It is missing the vast majority of the content. The Plus Edition upgrade to get you the rest of the game the same as retail will cost you 50 dollars
@107, Ask Sony/Revolution, they did the math and thought that it works out well. Remember, when this was originally planned, they wanted to give away let’s say 4/5 of the game for free as incentive for customers to buy PS4 and subscribe to PS+. Perhaps their original plan was also that you pay $10 for the remaining 1/5. It makes perfect sense for a launch sales driver.
That’s all before the delays and now it no longer serves that purpose. So they changed their mind and didn’t want to give away so much now.
Whatever happened to the Plus edition being the retail game “minus a few cars and tracks”, Paul? Was that a lie?
Public relations… you are doing it wrong.
actually, kinda ironic that they call it PS+ edition, seeing as it’s the short form for PlayStation Plus (the Plus used to refer to the extra bonuses and 1 hour full game demos), but seeing as it’s actually missing a good chunk, shouldn’t it be called PS- edition instead of PS+? Plus means more than, minus means lesser than.
@GummyCore: Sure, Knack will still sell here and in the East, but it’s the first weeks and months after a game launches that are the biggest. That’s when most people who want it buy it, and that’s when it’s still selling at the full retail price. It’s not about AAA studios being more entitled than indies. Those games are big-budget because they are expected to bring big revenue. If a AAA title sells 1 million units, well that’s $60million gross revenue. Knack’s sales have been pretty underwhelming though, seling only a quarter-million copies in the U.S. alone, and just over 1-million worldwide. Now the general price of that game in the U.S. is $30 and like I said, most people who wanted that game already own it. The game will still sell, but it’s not going to be bringing in big dollar signs anymore. Whether a good profit was made from that title or not, I don’t know, as I haven’t tried digging that deep, but it’s now at the point where Sony isn’t relying on it for big sales anymore. It can be offered with a new console, and it’s my guess that it will be the first AAA game we see added to the PS4’s IGC.
A game like Contrast is naturally going to sell a lot less “units”, and being priced at a quarter of what a AAA game launches at, Sony can afford to “foot that bill”. And offering games in the IGC is more than just a perk to subscribers; it convinces more and more people that it’s worth it to pay that $50 per year. One of the rules of business is you’ve got to spend to earn, and that’s what Sony does.
@112, Remember we are talking about Japan. Most people in Japan who wanted that game in Japan have NOT owned it yet. The Japan version of the game was not released until the Japan PS4 was released. (What could the Japanese do with the game if there is no PS4 to play it?) It was free on day 1 of its release in Japan.
As you are surely aware, most consoles are sold at a loss, especially during launch, except perhaps Nintendo’s. The cost (not at srp but actual internal cost) of a free game is just part of the marketing expense, part of the losses that the console maker incurs, no different from spending millions on just a few minutes of Superbowl commercial.
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As I said, that must be the original plan for Driveclub – it was developed with the plan of being mostly given away. Its development budget is probably covered under the PS4’s development cost or marketing budget. It would have worked well that way, at least the marketing people and accounting people at Sony thought so, thus the way it was originally promised to the customers. There is absolutely nothing incredible about such marketing schemes – it’s happening everywhere every day. Nothing is free, it’s just a calculated move. They win some and lose some, and in this case, it doesn’t look like they are going to win so they just flip over the table.
The way big companies work, the budget for a year doesn’t carry over to the next year. With the delays, Revolution suddenly found that they are no longer funded by Sony’s PS4 marketing budget. That’s sad, but that’s not our problem. We are just holding them to what they promised.
In fact, I believe many of us could forgive them and accept 1/5 of the game, if they just come clean and apologize. However they kept trying to weasel out of it and attempted new ways to screw us, to the extend of doctoring evidence. Such behavior from the company is unforgivable.
online play requires a plus membership, so all the people who pick this up are already going to be plus members as this is hyperfocused on the multiplayer scene, so the ps plus version is just like the free to play mmo’s who have “elite status” or “founder packs” built into their game, sure you can play those games for free, but anyone netting to be a contender moves over to those elite status membership.
we really are just paying out of being in a subclass of gamers, those who play in the plus version are weeds and those willing to spend the money are the flowers and clubs will focus on being non-weed clubs.
I hate to say it, but the gameplay depiction fails to impress me :( I love Evolution Studios, but the game sounds no more than a glorified clan race battle. As if it lacks any kind of direction.
I hope come October I’m proven wrong.
I was excited for this game, now i dont care. I have Rivals and thats enough to hold me over till GT on Ps4. Good luck with your game.
Paul, a ton of people are still wondering why you told Official Playstation Magazine UK last Fall that the Plus edition would be “minus a few cars and tracks”?
Come on, it isn’t like you are working that hard on the game that you can’t answer?
For real? I’ve been waiting for this since the beginning, this is the main reason I’ve bought PS4 and PLUS to get this and now they are just giving away 1 track and the UPGRADE is for 50$? GG for me, I’m gonna end up buying another game for 59.99$. This sucks for real. I feel sad… They have let me down.