Now, If you intend on downloading DRIVECLUB PlayStation Plus Edition, and upgrading to the full game experience, you will have access to the full game even if your PlayStation Plus subscription runs out.
Last week we announced the release date for PS4’s first socially connected racing game – DRIVECLUB.
The response we’ve seen to the trailer is seriously overwhelming, and it’s time for some more news.
Welcome to the first of three DRIVECLUB updates this week. DRIVECLUB PlayStation Plus Edition has been a hot topic since its announce, so today’s video (the first of three) should answer most of your questions about the actual content included in this edition compared to the Blu-ray version.
One of the recurring questions we keep seeing is about the scale of the PlayStation Plus Edition. The simple answer is that with an active PlayStation Plus subscription, you can download DRIVECLUB PlayStation Plus Edition, which comes with one location (India), 11 tracks, 10 cars and access to all game modes.
But why did we choose to offer this particular selection of the game to PlayStation Plus subscribers for free?
DRIVECLUB is inherently next gen. It’s about accessibility for all and building a community of gamers who love online play. DRIVECLUB PlayStation Plus Edition is designed to be a quick and easy way for gamers all over the world to join the DRIVECLUB community. You can take part in all the game modes, set, send and compete in challenges, and race online against others in the DRIVECLUB community.
We think you’ll have a lot of fun playing DRIVECLUB once it launches on October 7th, digitally via the PlayStation store and on Blu-ray at your local retailer. If you’re an active PlayStation Plus subscriber and have been playing the PlayStation Plus Edition, but decide you want the full DRIVECLUB experience, you can purchase a one-time upgrade for $49.99. This will give you access to all five locations, 55 tracks, 50 cars and all 50 tour events, as long as your PlayStation Plus subscription remains active.
If you’re not an active PlayStation Plus member, you can still get DRIVECLUB via the PlayStation Store or your local retailer on Blu-ray.
Stay tuned because there’s more content coming tomorrow with the ‘Clubs’ video, explaining why they’re crucial to making DRIVECLUB distinctly different.
Friday’s episode is all about challenges – why we love ‘em, what they give you and importantly, how they’ll make the game infinitely more networked and fun to play in your Club.
Over and out.
@343 iamtylerdurden1, I shall repeat my comment from last page:
Even if this game is online-only, the argument of “you need PS+ to play online anyway” is not a valid excuse.
I can be a PS+ member and get the PS+ edition for free, then pay real money for the upgrade. Later I may let my Plus membership lapse on this account. I may subscribe to PS+ on other account(s) (on other regions even), or piggyback on Plus membership of a family member to give me access to PS4 online game play. Logically I should not need to continue my Plus subscription to continue playing the upgraded full game that I paid for.
(It’s true, I have PS+ subscription on US, Europe and Asia, and temporarily Japan too. I don’t want my decision for extending any particular PS+ to be tied to the purchase of a full game upgrade.)
@ 349 – Then buy the full game if u like it that much …. eh? We don’t know if the cars we have access to are “the slowest in the game” im sure they aren’t going to give u the ten worst cars of all time and laugh when u can’t beat anyone. Heaven forbid if u love the plus edition having to drop 50$ for the full game, u talk about having to spend “real” money to get all the content and be able to compete? Maybe u like Forza 5’s model on xbone better? Making u spend 60$ on the “game” the hollow shell of a game and then having to spend at least 60 – 80$ more in microtransactions in order to get the full experience = 140$ to enjoy a racing game.
#352, We don’t know. (And we don’t know how match making will work.) Until we know, I am not considering PS+ Edition a ‘complete’ game based just on the fact that it has a plat trophy. Plat trophy is irrelevant without knowing how easy or hard or impossible it is to earn without spending real money. Until we know, this is still a glorified demo, a pay-to-win game to me. In MY impression right now, this ranks around the same as Ridge Racer on Vita, with miserable number of cars and tracks included on the card.
@ 351 – Really bro? That sounds complicated. If ur soooo worried about losing access to the game while u do whatever it is u were talkin about (piggybacking, using other ppl’s accounts ect ) then spend 10$ more or buy a physical copy. At least u get to play the real game for free to see if u like it, and if u don’t then at least u get to keep the trophies.
@354, The point is, you should NOT have to worry about losing access to the game or have all the complicated considerations after paying for a full-game upgrade. Buying a full-game upgrade should be permanent, as it has always been for all the games so far. This is one policy that works against convention and is against customer interest.
If everyone is going to extend their PS+ subscription anyway (just so that they can continue playing online, for any game not just this), then why even bother having such an unfair policy that creates complication and worries? What can they achieve by having such a policy – shackling a few more people to PS+? I would expect that tying PS4 online access and all the PS+ carrots can attract and retain PS+ members already. There is no need to resort to underhanded shady tactic like this (and making a video to explain it as though it is ‘for the players’ is just insulting).
When is driveclub coming out?
I have bought two PS3’s, a PS4 at launch and thrown over three thousand dollars at Playstation…
And I still can’t get a single answer about why the promised, from current game lead, PS Plus version of Driveclub is so cut. He was quoted as saying the PS Plus version would be “minus a few cars and tracks” last Fall. Which means the full game has only 13 cars.
Sony…
Responses Await?
The upgrade is very stupid. I’ll be getting this game used now.
I’m 99% sure Jack Trenton said at the E3 conference last year that they would provide a free Drive Club “PS+ Edition” which could be upgrade for a reasonable price to the full retail version.
The 10 cars and 5 tracks is fine with me and probably fine with most people who just want a freebie to check out each month.
Now if I pay to unlock the full game that should be mine forever.
If it expires with the PS+ subscription than that is a very bad deal for the gamers…
… and I’m not sure if it is such a great deal for $ony either
I’m not going to be happy with it and I will vote with my money unless the upgrade is a true PS+ discount and I actually get to buy the game (meaning not having a PS+ requirement later on).
Oh Sony, you were The Chosen One :(
Hope we get an official response to this drama soon.
bull****, if your ps+ account expires & you paid £50 for the game you should get to keep it, seriously this is wrong & no one should purchase this game for this reason until they allow us to keep the game if we spend money on it
@ GummyCore
Almost everything you said was speculation. You wasted both of our time again. Please stop doing that.
Booby traps? Accidentally hitting buttons and falling into a pit? “Clear and present menace”? Dude, gimme a break.
And don’t worry about all that evil stuff. My arguments have nothing to do with allowing monsters into my life. If there was evil creeping around here, I would notice it, and I’d be the first one to do something about it. You ‘noids are simply seeing things that aren’t there, and all of your posts dripping with speculation proves it. You’re not stating facts, you’re tossing out a bunch of what-ifs that sprang from your tortured imagination. Get a grip.
@PrimeroIncognito, Fine, you don’t think there is anything wrong with what they are doing, you want to do nothing, you don’t think it has anything to do with you, good for you. The rest of us (read all the comments here and on the Europe blog, there are a lot of us) who feel that this is not right and voicing up, we will do what we do, you get a grip.
If you like to imagine we are all imagining ourselves being victimized, up to you, that’s your imagination, I am not going to try changing your mind (as I said yesterday, I didn’t want to discuss it with you any further), stop wasting our time then.
@ GummyCore, If the Driveclub upgrade policy is so “shady” then pay ten$ more and u get the game with no strings. Stop your whinny whinery it is unbecoming ppl, if ur a Sony fan act like it and be reasonable in your criticism. Play the Driveclub + edition and if u love it buy the full version for 50 or 60$ (your choice) or if ur broke then just enjoy the limited but FREE version & say thanks for the trophies. If u play it and dislike it (unlikely) then say thanks for the opportunity and go on your way, oh and still thank them for the trophies. Nobody is making u buy anything on the contrary ur getting something (much more than a demo) for free, enjoy it and stop complaining.
They made a 180
“Our priority for DRIVECLUB is to enable you to play and enjoy everything it has to offer and PlayStation recognises that the prior plan for DRIVECLUB entitlement for the upgrade to the PS Plus edition was not appropriate. As a result, we have adjusted the PlayStation Plus terms for DRIVECLUB.
Now, If you intend on downloading DRIVECLUB PlayStation Plus Edition, and upgrading to the full game experience, you will have access to the full game even if your PlayStation Plus subscription runs out.”
Contrary to some people here saying, we should for make our voices heard if we think that something is not right, It worked with Microsoft and also worked with Sony too.
regarding the PS+ update adjustment: thank you for listening!
Kudos Sony! Over on the EU blog they just announced a reversal of the PS+ requirement for the upgrade!! Guess the US blog folks are still sleeping :-) but I’m sure there will be a similar update here as well.
Thanks for listening Sony and for correcting this (brief) lapse in judgement!!
Also, it’s a wonder we are getting a plus edition of Driveclub at all with all the turmoil and transition Evolution Studios has gone through recently. The dev for Driveclub had a “studio reconfiguration” and lost their creative director to another project , they also have had to deal with philosophical differences (in studio & out) on how the game should be and whether or not to push it back in order to make it Morpheus/VR compatible …. so fingers crossed we get Driveclub in VR and that VR drops this holliday season or b4. So maybe they did change what they were going to give us, it was supposed to be a PS4 launch game and perhaps at that time there weren’t as many cars/tracks ect and maybe we would of gotten most of the content in the game, maybe someone at the top decided to scale back the + edition fearing it would give ppl no incentive to buy the game if they’re giving away 90% of it. That’s all speculative anyway, the game got severely delayed, there were problems, be happy that they’re still honoring the + edition (even if it is scaled back) The game looks great & it’s a Sony 1st party studio so i’m preordering it anyway (not to mention a sweet preorder bonus) so the freebie stuff doesn’t concern too much.
So SCEE updated their Blog Post with a new statement, I guess this is going to happen on US side too? Thank you.
Good- Sony has done the right thing. The PS Plus version is still disappointingly small and the corresponding upgrade price still disappointingly large, but I can live with them. Thank you, Sony, for adjusting appropriately.
Yes, Sony has backtracked on this shady DRM policy. Info on it is up on the Eu blog and will be up on the US blog when they come in (time zone differences). To the people who complain about the complainers – this is why people had to make their voices heard. People had to put a stop to a questionable full game upgrade policy. I’m sorry that some of you are so narrow minded that you can’t see the world in bigger terms than your own needs and can’t see possibilities of the future further than the day to day. The vast majority of gamers got it. The vast majority of gamers made their voices heard. Hopefully Sony won’t try to pull a stunt like this again. They had a lot of angry customers on their hands
Now if they’d just address the “missing a few cars and tracks” stated last year to now missing about 80% of the game (but you get trophies on this demo like that’s supposed to mean anything) then we’d be back on track
Also I would hope they address the “upgrade” price of the game. That price = the full game and is not a discounted upgrade price. 20-30 dollars would be a fair upgrade price. For 50 you might as well just buy the disc or full digital (whichever you prefer). 50 is not an upgrade price
Wow are u guys happy? The ppl who buy the upgraded version and decide they no longer want ps plus (have fun playing a multiplayer game without online capabilities) are now comforted to know they can still play the game as non + users – meaning u can’t play online….. so ur excited because u can play a game specifically designed to be played ONLINE offline? All 4 of u who would buy the upgraded version and inexplicably decide, “hmm im a PS4 owner but i hate free games, sales, & online gaming so screw that pesky 5$ a month i’m going offline forget multiplayer i’m getting rid of ps plus so i can play Driveclub the way it was meant to be played…… offline” so all u guys are safe now. Crying over nonsense i mean if u own a PS4 and don’t have ps+ then u have no business being a gamer.
^^ Dude – it’s not an online only game. It never was. There are plenty of people that don’t play online multiplayer. Besides it was never about just 1 game. It was about a change in ownership policy that has been there since day 1 of PSN many years ago. If they change 1 game and got away with false ownership, then they’d get away with others
Try to think for yourself instead of just towing the company line
Not sure how I feel about this update from SCEE… This is just a glimpse of things to come…
Usually, the “bad practices” the higher-ups want to implement get huge negative feedback by the production, dev, and the QA teams. This means that the public is never made aware of a lot of things that could have been. Unfortunately, the higher-ups have the final say and sometimes, they do this exact test; Despite the negative feedback from within the company, still toss it at the public, keep it quiet (hence, no replies from Sony in this post), see what the reaction is, and go from there. If there is a lot of negativity, toss it out… then try it again later, perhaps in a slightly different form or at a “better” timing. If the public accepts it, see how much more they can push.
This isn’t speculation. It’s actual strategy used constantly by companies. Anybody who has enough experience in the game industry knows this. It’s textbook strategy.
The key point here, is that they went through with this test with the public. That is a huge step. As I said, if it gets rejected, it comes back later… Expect to see more of these tests. And if the public accepts it, expect the next test to be something worse.
Congratulations Sony for reversing your position on the upgrade plan. Now it makes sense. Congrats for listening to your consumers.
You’re right about this test being a failure, but that they’d probably try to bring it back at a later date just worded differently or with a “must-have” game. The only option for consumers is to raise hell every time or just stop buying from companies that pull this kind of stunt. I’m fine either way. My PC plays most modern games just fine and the sales are usually better on PC anyway without having to pay an annual membership fee to be able to get the discounts or to have online access
@ 371, 372 – First off the retail price is 60$ so 50$ is not full price it is actually a 10$ discount – see what i did with the math there i had my 6yr old help me with it. Secondly this is an issue which would’ve affected virtually nobody, and no this isn’t an xbone drm (used games) reversal issue it doesn’t have bigger ramifications this isn’t a Russia Ukraine peace treaty. 3rdly if they sell the upgraded version for 20$ as u suggest then what’s to stop someone from purchasing + for 1 month or using a 2week free trial of + then purchasing Driveclub for 20$ effectively scamming Sony & Evolution Studios, what’s to stop everyone from doing this?
Although I was in the minority of gamers that did not have a problem with the pricing structure that Sony offered for Driveclub on Wednesday, I am glad to see that Sony listened to the wishes of the vast majority of the gamers that buy their products and promptly reversed course from their rather unpopular initial decision. Unlike other companies that have representatives that would rather have gamers “just deal with” their choices, regardless of how unpopular the decision is, Sony kept its ear to the ground, heard what the gamers had to say, and quickly decided to side with the majority of the Playstation faithful. For that, Sony must be commended…you showed that you do listen to us and ultimately care about what we want.
Cont. from #379…
Furthermore, this was an excellent exercise in consumer advocacy by the Playstation community. You didn’t like something, so you took to the message boards and voiced your dissatisfaction. Although I personally dissented from the majority view, it was really cool to read the comments back and forth over the last couple days and watch this community take charge of the matter. It’s awesome to see individuals force change from a major corporation. Gamers are a powerful force when they speak with one loud voice. Well done, PS Community!
@ 375 – So ur a guru, an industry insider huh? Conspiracy theories much? So this “test” was worth all the negative feedback and making your company look silly? You think microsoft was testing their base with all the xbone reversal policies? Do u know how badly that sunk them? That is also the reason why PS4 got all the free to plays and indies because they weren’t going to allow self publishing on xbone and by the time they reversed the policy it was too late. These are cause and effect situations and companies have contingency plans of course, but they are not dreaming up what anger inducing test they can perform on us next.
So its a $10 discount for PSN + which is normally the discount for going digital anyway, seems like we are still getting ripped off in this update, it should be $40 psn update instead of a $10 discount to get the game.
I’m glad common sense prevailed. Thanks for listening.
Wow, Sony! You actually decided to keep your promise that “[a]ny content you purchase with a Plus discount is yours to keep, regardless of you membership status.” Good on you!
/sarcasm
I still don’t think it is a good deal. It was promised a full game and still is a demo with a $ 50.00 upgrade.
It would make a lot more sense to limit certain things, like trophies, garage size, upgrade parts and charge something like $ 29..99 for the upgrade.
@Scaramanga1983
What? you’re actually complaining? and you want LESS for $30? what? I don’t even…. you went full retard there, man. Never go full retard.
@Scaramanga1983
What? you’re actually complaining? and you want LESS for $30? what? I don’t even…. you went full ret@rd there, man. Never go full ret@rd.
@385 and many others
They never promised the full game. Go back and watch the E3 presentation. It was always clearly labelled as “PS+ edition”. It was obvious that meant that it wasn’t the “full” edition.
@378 – I just preordered the new Wolfenstein yesterday for 53.99. That’s not the full price of 60 dollars but is at a 10% discount. See what I did with the math there? I didn’t need anybody to help me with that. By your fuzzy logic since I didn’t pay full price it would be OK if the game stopped working after my plus subscription ran out
The level of derpa derp from some people is amazing. Are you able to function without a nurse coming in to make sure you wiped properly every day?
I know its a video about video games. And I did quite enjoy the style. I just can’t let it go without correcting its numbers on evolution.
Humans (Hominids) actually date back as far as 6 Million Years ago.
I know the video states that 3.5 Billion years ago stuff happened. But it just glosses over most of those 3.5 billion years and goes straight to saying “humans evolved.” I don’t like the idea of anyone thinking humans evolved 3.5 billion years ago.
We talk, they listen! Great job Playstation community!
The 50$ upgrade is the dumbest thing ever Sony. Really makes us feel appreciated .
Don’t go out of your way Sony to make us happy….
Makes me feel like I can’t sit down with out my behind hurting….
@MarinoBrea
Read my comment again and maybe you’ll undestand. I suggested to remove trophies and “extra content” (special cars, garage size, mod parts), like many free to play games do, instead of giving 1/5 of the game, and charging half of the price of the full game for the upgraded version. How’s that “less for $30”?
@karocage
They said that DriveClub would be a full free PS Plus game during PS4’s unveiling. During E3 they came up with this PS Plus Edition.
While you need PS+ for the online/social feature, I like that you can let the subscription lapse and still play the game offline. In the end I am not sure it makes a difference.
This game looks cool, but I heard that there aren’t any tracks to drive in from the United States? Anyone know if this is correct?
Thanks!
Is anyone going to answer the question as to why the game director said last Fall to OPM UK that the PS Plus edition would be “minus a few cars and tracks”? Why were you saying for that many months that a launch game free with Plus was going to be just a few cars short of the retail title?
You guys have been lying about this for quite some time, a simple apology would be a good start.
@389 and others…
Last year the game director was quoted as saying the Plus edition would be the full game, “minus a few cars and tracks”.
Stop going by what looks good for Sony and just go by what they said.
Well there you go guys you threw a fit and had a tantrum and you got your way, now you’ll have to find something else to complain about, oh wait never mind you already are. Maybe if you guys whine and cry enough we can get the whole game for free like you think they said we would but actually never did.
Thank you for being receptive to our feedback! This will surely make those of us who were annoyed about the prior plan much more receptive to Driveclub. What’s more, it shows that you are listening, Sony/Playstation, even if you don’t directly respond.