It turns out that Sony only jumped the gun by a couple of days. Sony has made a follow up announcement, confirming that DRIVECLUB PlayStation Plus Edition will be available to all PlayStation Plus members starting on Thursday, 25th June. The offline mode will be available first, followed by a steady rollout of the online functionality.
The game has suffered a number of delays and unexpected set-backs since it launched in October 2014, and this time, Sony and Evolution Studios are “going to be duly cautious about how we release the game this time around.” As a result, the release of the game will be staggered, with everyone being able to download the offline mode first, while the online mode will be rolled out in stages.
“We have to take this precaution because DRIVECLUB connectivity is demanding for a multiplayer game, with countless ever-growing social connections across clubs, challenges, multiplayer, and hundreds of thousands of dynamic leaderboards and activity feeds,” says Shuhei Yoshida.
Lets see if the precautions and all the extra development work put into the game is worth it in the end.