Sony revealed recently that Driveclub, the Evolution Studios-developed racing simulator, would be delisted from the PlayStation Store later this year. This included the base game, Driveclub VR, and Driveclub Bikes, but the company also confirmed that servers would also be shut down in March 2020. As per former director Paul Rustchynsky on Twitter, this is fairly standard for most racing games in the industry.

Rustchynsky, who directed Onrush at Codemasters before joining Slightly Mad Studios, revealed on Twitter, “To be clear the game, like most racing games, it is being delisted for licensing reasons. It’s standard practice across the industry for ~5yr deals, so buy it before it’s gone forever.”

It also may not be entirely easy to extend the licensing due to cost. “Deals will vary game to game and with different manufacturers. It is possible to get longer deals or extend them, but the cost of licensing cars shouldn’t be underestimated,” said Rustchynsky.

What about the closure of servers though, something which falls squarely on Sony’s shoulders? Rustchynsky said that servers are a “different matter” and that “The sale of the item is what gets restricted after the agreed terms expire. Servers will just be a business decision.‏”

While it is a shame, Sony could be seeing more success from Polyphony Digital’s Gran Turismo Sport and diminishing returns from Driveclub. Whatever the case may be, you have until August 31st, 2019 to pick up Driveclub from the PlayStation Store.

To be clear the game, like most racing games, it is being delisted for licensing reasons. It's standard practice across the industry for ~5yr deals, so buy it before it's gone forever.

— Paul Rustchynsky (@Rushy33) March 31, 2019

Deals will vary game to game and with different manufacturers. It is possible to get longer deals or extend them, but the cost of licensing cars shouldn't be underestimated.

— Paul Rustchynsky (@Rushy33) March 31, 2019

Well the servers are a different matter, the sale of the item is what gets restricted after the agreed terms expire. Servers will just be a business decision.

— Paul Rustchynsky (@Rushy33) March 31, 2019

Sony has announced that Driveclub, Evolution Studios’ racing sim that released in 2014, will be delisted from the PlayStation Store on August 31st, 2019. This will apply to the base game, Driveclub VR, and Driveclub Bikes. Furthermore, servers for these titles will be shut down on March 31st, 2020.

As Sony states here, online features like creating your own events, competing in leaderboards, representing your club, engaging in multiplayer (which includes events), and challenges will be unavailable. The season pass also can’t be used online. That being said, all single-player and offline modes are playable, which extends to season pass content.

Again though, if you want to pick up any of the games along with their DLC and season passes, you have until August 31st, 2019 to do so. In other news, Sony also announced that online services for StarBlood Arena would be disabled on July 25th, 2019. Given the game’s online focus, that means it will be unplayable after that.

With Sony’s PlayStation VR finally beginning to catch on, and establishing itself as a long term platform for the burgeoning medium, it seems like the NPD Group has decided to shed some light on exactly what games people are playing on it once they buy it. While major AAA support for VR is still a bit wanting, there’s a lot of great titles available now— and that is reflected in the list of the top five bestselling PSVR games in the US, according to NPD Group analyst Mat Piscatella, which is a pretty diverse group.

You’ll be surprised to know that the top selling game is not Skyrim, but rather, Farpoint; Worlds VR is number two, followed by Batman: Arkham VR. Skyrim comes in at number 4, with DriveClub VR taking fifth place.

Now, there’s some interesting points to note here, so let’s go through them. “Where’s Resident Evil 7?” is one, so let’s make it very clear that the NPD Group is only counting “PSVR required” games here, which means that Resident Evil 7, which includes full VR on board with the standard PS4 version, doesn’t count here.

Why is Skyrim so low? There’s multiple reasons: one, Skyrim does not have its digital sales counted, unlike the other games, because Bethesda does not share digital sales data with the NPD Group. Secondly, Skyrim is one of the few full priced PSVR games on the market— most other games can be had for less than $60. It’s not unreasonable to suppose many would-be buyers go with a handful of cheaper games rather than one expensive one.

So, there you have it. I wonder what this list will look like a year from now…

https://twitter.com/matpiscatella/status/1047147289532219397?s=21

After all, Evolution Studios had a decade of racing games under its belt, most recently including the excellent Motorstorm series on the Playstation 3. What could go wrong? The game looked great and sounded great, although among the titans like Forza and Gran Turismo, it was hard to figure out exactly where it fit in. That’s not to say many players weren’t interested though, as Driveclub’s generous controls with a simulation look did climb up the sales charts to be one of the PlayStation 4’s best selling games for quite a while afer the time of its launch. This was probably helped by the fact that this was so early in the PS4’s life and there were so many PS4’s being sold with a relatively small library, but nevertheless Driveclub ultimately sold well. So what happened? Why haven’t we see more of this game that impressed so many with its visuals, sound design, and controls? What the hell happened to Drivelcub?

To answer this question we need to go over two major blunders with some smaller mistakes within them. Lots of things happened to Driveclub, but it does boil down to two major things: first and foremost, as we touched on earlier, it was kind of hard to explain who Driveclub was for. At first glance it looks like a competitor to the driving simulation behemoths Gran Turismo and Forza that have defined that genre for their respective consoles for a long time. But why would that need to exist exclusively on Sony’s platform in the first place?

Gran Turismo has had that audience more than satisfied for a long time, and if you’re not going to beat them, whats the point in competing for that audience? Well, eventually, when developers would speak about Driveclub, they started describing it as a simulation arcade racer hybrid, featuring the best of both worlds, but again, who really wants that? If you want an established arcade-style racing franchise with great presentation and high production values, there are already several Need For Speed style games out there. And for fans of that genre, the style of tracks that were available in Driveclub didn’t really have the imagination or character that they would typically expect in those games.

The tracks and cars looked great but more like something you would see in a simulation game that was focused more on realism and immaculate detail than the lively amusements you would find in arcade racers. The controls were said to feel more arcade-y though, and admittedly they did turn out to be more accessible and have a much more shallow learning curve than the typical simulation game, but again, not quite arcade-level accessibility either. So the identity of Driveclub was never very solid or easily explainable, and while that didn’t interfere much with initial sales, it definitely had an impact on Driveclub’s longevity as other more well-defined racers chipped away at its fan base.

Next on the list is the disaster of a launch. Lots of games are delayed; it’s a common thing, but few games go through the stages of delay that Driveclub did; with multiple delays and a still being riddled with bugs at launch. This was a terrible start for the game and reflected poorly on Evolution Studios after Sony stuck their neck out for them with the delays. Additionally, to make things even more confusing, there was a special version supposedly available for free to Playstation Plus subscribers that would feature all of the modes but just with a few tracks and vehicles. This mode was intended to be released at the same time as the full version but ended up being postponed until further notice to relax the amount of stress that was being put on the servers, which made things confusing for people waiting for free version.

Some ended up either just buying the regular version and getting to encounter all of the bugs and server issues, while others ended up waiting all the way until June of 2015 to try out the free one, by which time a lot of the hype was gone and with that a major slice what online community it had accumulated. The game was ultimately fixed and working well by this point, but sadly the muddy mess of a launch just made Driveclub’s moment in the spotlight more of a debacle than a capstone for those who had been waiting for it.

Those two major things are probably what happened to Driveclub and stopped it dead in its tracks well before it got a chance to be a real franchise. The sloppy launch of the game, on top of being a somewhat generic racing game in a lot of areas that could have set it apart from others, led Driveclub to have a generally mixed reception with a handful of above average review scores. Many reviewers and players alike praised Driveclub’s excellent presentation, friendly controls and some pretty interesting connectivity features (once they were all working) but those things just didn’t go far enough to make Driveclub get to where it was so desperately trying to be; among the best.

A deadly combination of a confusing pitch, bad launch, and the inability of it to stand out in any meaningful way in a crowded genre full of seasoned franchises with dedicated fans could not be overcome despite the fact that it sold pretty well and ultimately did make Sony’s money back. Unfortunately, not too long after Driveclub started to fade, Evolution Studios was shut down, which is perhaps the biggest tragedy of all in this story. The game does still exist though and it is better than ever with an expansion featuring Bikes and a very nice VR mode. So while Driveclub did eventually turn into something worthwhile and interesting, it taught us all a very serious lesson about the importance of first impressions.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

Now that the PSVR has officially launched, it turns out Driveclub fans are getting a bit of a special treat. The game is getting its final update and it is going to be plenty generous. This final update is going to include up to 15 tracks and those tracks are going to be usable both in the regular game and in the Driveclub VR version of the game.

These new urban tracks are going to be about as big as what you might expect from other games’ when it comes to the paid expansions. As part of the expansion, Evolution Studios even included a farewell note. “Thanks for your support. Thanks for your commitment. Farewell,” the note reads.

The last piece of DLC weighs in around 5.75GB. Earlier this year, most of the staff from Evolution Studios became a part of Codemaster and they are currently working on a new IP.

DriveClub VR looks to be one of the more promising games coming to the PlayStation VR, Sony’s throw of the ring into the VR battle arena- and the good news is that if you already own DriveClub alongside its season pass, you’ll be able to get your hands on DriveClub VR for very cheap. Sony announced today that existing Season Pass owners will be able to get DriveClub VR for just $20.

If you don’t have the Season Pass, DriveClub VR will cost you double that- it will set you aback by $40. The game will be available exclusively as a digital title via the PSN Store.

Nicola Orru, Principle Programmer at Sony WWS Immersive Technology Group, also took this opportunity to discuss the development of DriveClub VR, specifically addressing how it may have been affected by the unexpected closure of Evolution Studios.

“The majority of the game was completed by Evolution, with the remainder carried out by a dedicated team comprised of Evolution Studio veterans, several of which now are also members of the WWS Immersive Technology Group — so you can be assured that Driveclub VR is in safe hands,” he said.

The PlayStation VR will be launching on October 13.

New hardware launches are always exciting for everyone in the industry- regardless of where they draw the line in the sand as brand allegiances go. And with so many new hardware launches coming up – the PS4 Pro, the PSVR, the Nintendo NX, and of course, Microsoft’s Xbox One Scorpio – it’s an exciting time for everyone in the industry at large.

One of the people excited about the Xbox One Scorpio in particular is Paul Rustchynsky, who used to work on DriveClub with Evolution Studios, before Sony shut down the entire outfit. Speaking on Twitter, Rustchynsky noted that he is excited about the upcoming console, and particularly about what he might be able to do with the hardware. Continuing to speak in Microsoft’s favor, Rustchynsky also said that the recent case of Forza Horizon nearing ‘end of life status’ was an unavoidable  outcome of timed licensing deals, and that this was the kind of thing that all racing games had to deal with.

Elsewhere, Rustchynsky also shared some details about the upcoming DriveClub VR – likely to be the last batch of information he gets to share on the game before moving on from it. He shared, for instance, that even though the full power of the PS4 Pro had not been harnessed with DriveClub VR, there would still be some additional details if a player chose to play the game on the Pro. DriveClub VR also supports the DualShock 4’s motion controls, Rustchynsky confirmed. He also stated that DriveClub would not be getting any further updates beyond the urban tracks, and that these new tracks will be added to DriveClub in a free update.

DriveClub VR is due out later this year. Given that Evolution Studios is now shut down, it is likely to be the final DriveClub product. Xbox One Scorpio, meanwhile, is due out next Holiday season.

@jordan3802 Obviously, that's entire point of the console. I'm excited to see what we can do with the hardware.

— Paul Rustchynsky (@Rushy33) September 27, 2016

@tfutter87 We haven't harnessed the full power of the PS4 Pro, but there will be a few more visual details enabled.

— Paul Rustchynsky (@Rushy33) September 26, 2016

@jhow_nicolas17 We're no longer developing DC - we no longer work for Sony. There are no plans for future updates beyond the urban tracks.

— Paul Rustchynsky (@Rushy33) September 26, 2016

@roccodat The new tracks will be added in a free update.

— Paul Rustchynsky (@Rushy33) September 26, 2016

@ProjectsGames It has motion controls just like the original DC.

— Paul Rustchynsky (@Rushy33) September 27, 2016

@AaronOppedyk Vehicle manufacturers typically license their vehicles for a fixed period of time. After which you can no longer sell the game

— Paul Rustchynsky (@Rushy33) September 26, 2016

Former director of DriveClub, Paul Rustchynsky, has shared his thoughts on the upcoming PlayStation 4 Pro and revealed new details about the upcoming DriveClub VR. According to Rustchynsky people are underestimating the power of the PlayStation 4 Pro. Sony’s newest console comes with 4 TFLOPs of GPU power, a slightly upgraded CPU and memory. Granted it’s a decent jump compared to the base mode, but Microsoft’s upcoming Scorpio is head and shoulders above the Pro in terms of specs.

He also responded to a user’s comment about the Pro lacking a 4K blu ray player and whether its inclusion would have improved his gaming experience (the answer is obviously no). The lack of 4K blu-ray is apparently an issue for some players and we have done a through analysis on whether Sony can add it in the future. You read our report here.

Rustchynsky also tweeted a bit about DriveClub VR. When asked whether players will feel sick while playing the game, he stated that it ultimately depends on the players. The more you play VR, the more you will get acclimatized with the headset. Furthermore, the new trophies will be specific to the VR mode and there will be no news one added to the base version despite the latter receiving new tracks. Lastly he defended against claims that DriveClub VR is simply a cash grab by stating that the game has new modes, tracks, stats and trophies.

Too many people are underestimating the #PS4Pro without having seen it in action #SeeingIsBelieving https://t.co/NaQpNPO3Wd

— Paul Rustchynsky (@Rushy33) September 24, 2016

would that improve my gaming?

— Paul Rustchynsky (@Rushy33) September 24, 2016

We did find though that players did acclimatise over time, so the more you play VR the better you handle it.

— Paul Rustchynsky (@Rushy33) September 23, 2016

Down to the individual. I played for 4hrs+ per day which no nausea, but I know others have been affected.

— Paul Rustchynsky (@Rushy33) September 23, 2016

The new trophies are VR specific. There are no additional updates other than the new tracks.

— Paul Rustchynsky (@Rushy33) September 23, 2016

It's not a patch, nor an upgrade, it's an new game with new tracks, a new Tour, new trophies, new stats, new modes, etc.

— Paul Rustchynsky (@Rushy33) September 22, 2016

Earlier in July, DriveClub VR was announced as a Japanese launch title for PlayStation VR. Sony Interactive Entertainment officially revealed the game through the PlayStation Blog, confirming its 2016 release window. The virtual reality version of DriveClub promises to include already-existing tracks, as well as “five all-new Urban locations.”

The studio continued to detail some features that were designed specifically for DriveClub VR, such as cruise control and virtual passenger. The latter allows players to witness “exciting replays of hot laps” from a unique viewpoint, while cruise control is “a little time to kick back, open the throttle or just coast and explore any track, in any country at your leisure in Cruise Mode.”

DriveClub VR will be playable over at Gamescom 2016, so make sure to give it a try if you’re there. While we wait for the game’s release later this year, take a look at these newly released screenshots.

Here come those PlayStation VR games! Driveclub VR, which was earlier showcased by Sony as a a demonstration of what’s possible on their fledgling VR platform, is now officially a launch title for PlayStation VR. A catch: It’s only confirmed as launching in Japan (thanks, Videogamer.) Interestingly, the Japanese Playstation Blog post which outed the information appears to have been taken down, replaced with handy 404 screen. The plot thickens.

So, what exactly does this mean? Well, there still is the possibility that it was a communications screw-up. We reported that Driveclub VR’s future was left uncertain after developer Evolution Studios was shuttered. However, Driveclub’s former game director Paul Rustchynsky chimed in opportunely on Twitter, talking about the “new tracks” in the game. But going by the er hastags, he Rustchynsky does seem to strongly imply that Driveclub VR is still a thing.

Playstation VR (and presumably Driveclub VR) are launching on October 13th. What’s your take?

The new tracks are awesome by the way, some of my favourites in the game 😉 #DRIVECLUBVR #PSVR pic.twitter.com/C0VN1LPceb

— Paul Rustchynsky (@Rushy33) July 29, 2016