The day wouldn’t be complete without a spot of controversy to send social network tyrants into a 140 character fury, and Sony has certainly offered that up on a silver platter this evening. Fresh from the backlash pertaining to DriveClub’s less than ideal framerate, the format holder has now outlined the exclusive racer’s PlayStation Plus upgrade path – and it’s got a bit of a catch.
While we already know that the cunningly labelled DriveClub PS Plus Edition will come with less content than its full-price counterpart, the platform holder has come good on its promise to allow you to upgrade for a discounted fee. However, stumping up the £42.99/$49.99 will only let you keep hold of the remainder of the content if you have an active PlayStation Plus membership.
This is confusing, so let’s run a little example: you download the Instant Game Collection edition of the game, and purchase the full version because you’re having fun. A week later, your PlayStation Plus subscription expires. In this instance, you’ll lose access to the entire title, until you stump up for a new membership, at which point you’ll be able to pick up exactly where you left off.
While there’s been some serious melodrama regarding this online – seriously, we bet that the platform holder wishes that it never promised the giveaway in the first place – we reckon that this is more a case of oversight rather than malice. The firm’s clearly treating the full game unlock as DLC, as this is the way that things would work with any other PlayStation Plus title with add-on packs.
Of course, when you’re paying a substantial sum to upgrade your game, the expectations probably change. This isn’t a £3.99/$4.99 expansion pack, but a serious chunk of cash, and we can understand why people would want to continue playing whether they have an active premium membership or not.
As such, we wouldn’t be surprised if the firm changed its stance on this over the coming days. In the meantime, we can look forward to several other DriveClub updates this week, as developer Evolution Studios aims to explain the game’s ‘Clubs’ system and dynamic challenges mechanic. Also, check out the neat animated trailer embedded below.
[source blog.eu.playstation.com]
Comments 32
Yeah this was a really bad idea. First of all, $50 is way too much in the first place. The explanation that they are treating the unlock as DLC is definitely the problem, and if someone is going to spend $50 to unlock additional cars and tracks they should obviously own that content. That's a no-brainer.
Well i wont upgrade then. hopefully they remember that project cars will be on same timeframe, ill get that instead
lol. $10 off, with the loophole of the PS+ subscription expiring?
No thanks. plus, i prefer physical copies rather than digital only.
I'll try the demo. If I like the game, i'll grab it for sale in a store or even used or something for well below $50 eventually...
@drumsandperc92 I think that's the reasonable thing to do, to be honest.
Seems a bit stupid.
wait . . . whats the frame rate going to be? . .
@ztpayne7
It's complete bullsh*t really but that's the way of the industry these days. Hopefully there's enough people who point this out so the people calling the shots realize it and quickly change things. One thing I'll give a guy like Yoshida is he does seem to listen.
@Dub-Focus
30
I was excited about this game but now I'm really soured on it. When you think about it that's a fair discount considering how many other free games you will get with your ps plus subscription(and how much you pay in comparison) although I think we all expected something more substantial. Add to that how we were told we would have this six months ago and it will be closer to a year by the time we finally get to play it. I have no concern for not being able to play the full version due to an elapsed subscription(as I have no intention of allowing that) but that condition doesn't sit well with me. This may set precedent for more caveats in future giving us less and charging us more. It's already expensive enough paying close to $80 after taxes(in Canada) for infamous and the like. Based on principle, evolution will get none of my money and I hope others will follow suit.
So they delay the game by nearly a hole year just to make it worse?!... 30fps is a joke!! Now this, well this games gonna sell really well
On the other hand if the plus update costed 30 euros or less and it did not have the plus loophole the retail copy would sell almost zero copies since there would be no reason to buy it. I am not that intersted in the game anyway.
At least it's not a free-to-play game (shudder).
Also, it's good that they've presented a choice here. I'm sure most people will opt for the full-game, but I'd get the PSN+ version, honestly, just because I don't plan on ever ending my PSN+ subscription, and it's $10 off.
Why are the digital copies of things way overpriced on ps plus? I can buy a game for £49.99 in argos but online its like £59.99 and you cant even trade it in. If sony dropped the price on digital copies I would consider downloads over physical copies. SORT IT OUT SONY
Given they often offer free trials to PS plus, this is fair enough, otherwise no one will play full price.
Nope. Do not buy rip-off.
More plain stupid.
@get2sammyb Is it just me or has Sony the ability to shoot themselves in the foot when things are going to positive...
The more is revealed about this game the worse it sounds. "For the gamers"? Bullshit.
@Sanquine I dunno. I fully agree that this sucks, but I think the over reaction has been a little overblown. At the end of the day, you're still free to try the 'demo' and buy the game without a discount if you like it, and that way you won't be tied to PS Plus. That's not really any different to any other game.
@get2sammyb Well, the pay €50 and when your subscription ends gone is the game you payed for sounds awful.
@get2sammyb If you buy a game you get the game forever. It's that simple. It's not like the PS+ games that are free so long as you subscribe, it's a game you have bought. As I said above, "For the gamers" is becoming a massive joke.
@rastamadeus Because one game destroys their motto? You have to be a really negative person in life.
@Sanquine It's a collection of things that has made me start to lose focus with Sony and contemplate selling my PlayStation's. Mainly dealing with them personally for then taking £70 off me for a PS+ game, admitting it and now refusing to pay it as (and I quote) "PS+ doesn't give you free games, the game doesn't exist, there's no such thing as PS+ and I am not on PS+".
Add that to stuff like this DriveClub mess, the shambles and lies over PS+, the desire to flood the PS4 with old games (some not even a year old) for full price... The pretence that they are "for the gamers" just seems stupid at the moment.
@rastamadeus Well, nobody is holding you back. You may sell your stuff if that makes you happy. After playing Killzone shadowfall i have to have Ps4. I do agree they make a lot of mistakes lately... The indie flood is something i really hate. I also don't care about ports of previous games from the old generation. If you buy a shiny new toy you want some new software on it
@rastamadeus I absolutely agree that this sucks - no one is denying that. I think it's an oversight, though - it's clearly treating the full game unlock as DLC. Stupid, but I'm sure they'll come up with another solution after seeing the backlash, because this is crap.
I'm not really sure what happened with you losing £70, but I think your additional complaints are overly nit-picky personally. Your prerogative, of course.
@get2sammyb I did nazi that coming
Haha, sorry but i had to! If i get banned for this gif it was well worth it xD.
Still laughing!
@Sanquine How does is the indie flood bad? It doesn't really affect the AAA games that much. I can understand why you wouldn't like them, but I don't understand why their presence bothers you.
PS+ edition for me then, nothing more.
I'll never buy this. This doesn't benefit me in any shape or form.
This is just bad news I was super hyped for this game, I never plan on ending my PS Plus membership, but $50 for the "DLC" is just absurd when you think you can just buy the game for $60 and keep it without PS Plus. I keep hearing bad things about driveclub lately, I honestly have changed my mind from must-buy to PS Plus only. It's quite the shame, I hope the game surprises me, but most likely Project Cars is in my future.
@rastamadeus
Spot on with everything you posted, especially about DriveClub. I'd say I can't believe there are people even trying to slightly excuse this crap but with the love the internet gaming community showers on Sony it doesn't surprise me. I still believe this could get turned around if there are enough level headed gamers who b*tch about it because Yoshida seems to listen, but in truth it shouldn't even have to come to that. The business practices in the game industry are beyond broken right now but as gamers we also have to take a look in the mirror and admit responsibility for it. All of us have at some point supported some kind of bs that has now just gotten out of control.
Wow, everyone's pretty hot about this.
It's a free plus version, not a complete free game as I see it.
Buy the disc. Job done.
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