President of Sony World Wide Studios Shuhei Yoshida has updated PlayStation gamers on the state of Driveclub, and it isn’t looking good.
In a message on the official Driveclub Facebook page, Yoshida tells of Driveclub‘s “rocky” launch, in addition to updating gamers as to when to expect the long-awaited PS Plus Edition. He posted:
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.
Driveclub‘s unique social mechanics have caused a nightmare for developer Evolution Studios since the game launched on October 7th. Its Faceoffs and leaderboards were apparently coded in such a way that the servers are flooded with way more network traffic than necessary, resulting in unstable servers. Even three weeks later many gamers are outraged by server outages and hiccups during races. There were even some issues before release when only a few hundred reviewers—including myself—were online. The issue has been amplified since the flood gates were opened.
Driveclub was originally delayed from the PS4’s launch window, giving it roughly 8 more months of development time. It also had two limited betas which provided valuable feedback. However, during this time it apparently didn’t become clear that once more than a few thousand players were online, the servers would be devastated by traffic.
Related: 14 Things You Might Not Know About Driveclub
November’s PS Plus Instant Game Collection includes both The Binding of Isaac: Reborn and SteamWorld Dig for the PS4. No AAA game has been introduced to the platform through the service, yet. While many thought that Driveclub‘s PS Plus Edition would be the first, chances are it’ll be the long-rumored Knack given the negative connotation of today’s message.
