Evolution Studios’ Driveclub was meant to be a jewel in the crown of the PlayStation 4’s launch. It would have given the console a racing exclusive on day one, and it further helped to expand awareness of the PlayStation Plus service, which would offer part of the game to subscribers at no cost. Unfortunately, that never happened.
At the last minute, just weeks before the PS4’s launch, the game was delayed into 2014 with no reason given. In a recent interview with IGN, Scott Rhode, product development dead for Sony Worldwide Studios America, shed some light on what went down.
“What I will say is that it all comes back to that fundamental principle, and that’s that we want to build great games,” Rhode told IGN. “And we really don’t want to release a game before it’s ready. And sometimes, this happens in the normal course of business, where we think we’re on track to deliver what we think is going to be a great game, and when we get closer, we realize that we’d be doing everyone a disservice if we shipped it before it was ready.”
Driveclub is currently listed as coming out in 2014, but that is just an estimate. When asked about a specific release date (or even window), Rhode wasn’t willing to confirm that the game will even be released this year. According to Sony, though, more news is on the way soon.
“So, I think that at PlayStation, perhaps more than at other places, we’re willing to kinda eat that [cost] and go back to the drawing board and make sure the game is great before we ship it,” Rhode told IGN. “And that’s what’s going on right now with that game.”
It sounds like it might be a while until we actually get our hands on Driveclub, but maybe that’s a good thing. In the meantime, check out these screens to get a sense of what we’re missing, and what we have to look forward to.
