Though it was initially slated to arrive day and date with the fully-fledged racing simulator, the free PlayStation Plus edition of Evolution Studios’ beleaguered DriveClub has been postponed indefinitely in light of server trouble. At the time, it seemed as though the trial would lumber onto the PSN’s starting line-up before long, but a recent statement by Sony’s PlayStation Europe President Jim Ryan has hinted that it’s now a question of if, rather than when for the publisher.
This comes just a couple of weeks after developer Evolution stated that there was still a significant amount of work to be done before the PS Plus edition saw the light of day. However, Ryan’s recent statement does cast some doubt over the studio’s progress with the long-gestating trial. Speaking to Metro, the Sony exec stated that the free edition of DriveClub is “still being looked at,” and when asked if he could guarantee a release, Ryan replied, “I can’t say anything at this stage.”
Since it released back in October, DriveClub‘s crippling technical issues have been long documented, with both Evolution and Sony claiming that the entire ordeal was an embarrassment for both parties. Further in the interview, Ryan touched upon the debacle, how the development team went above and beyond to fix the problems, and how Sony as a whole has learned from the experience.
But to your statement that nobody cared, I shouldn’t speak at all for other publisher or platform holders, but just in the context of Driveclub, which as you say did not work correctly at launch, I gotta tell you that everybody in this building and in the development community was absolutely distraught that that was the case.
I don’t think anybody should labour under the opinion that there was any feeling of insouciance or anybody being relaxed about that being the case. People were working 24/7, and that’s an expression that’s lightly used but people were working 24/7 trying to fix this.
