Sony Exec Can't Commit to Free PS Plus DriveClub

[Update: Sony has issued a new statement to GameSpot, claiming that the project has not been cancelled.]

New doubts have been cast over the free PlayStation Plus edition of Driveclub after the head of PlayStation Europe was unable to answer questions on whether the game would still materialise.

Jim Ryan, who manages SCEE, was asked in an interview with Metro whether the release of the free version--which was first promised in June 2013--was still part of Sony's plans.

"That’s still being looked at," he replied.

When asked whether the free version would ever ship, Ryan replied: "I can’t say anything at this stage." GameSpot has contacted Sony for further clarification.

At E3 2013, months ahead of the release of the PlayStation 4, Sony made a pledge that PlayStation Plus subscribers would be given a free abridged version of Driveclub as a reward for their membership.

But the matter was complicated on several occasions, first in October 2013 when the racing sim was delayed just weeks ahead of its launch. It was delayed again in early 2014, and when finally released in October that year, it launched with major server issues that knocked its network infrastructure offline.

During the disaster launch, a decision was made at Sony to postpone the free version, likely in order to prevent the online problems worsening.

Months of waiting followed while fans hoped that the free version would still ship. Then, in early February this year, a representative for the game's developer, Evolution Studios, told a fan that the build "still needs a lot of work".

In his interview with Metro, Ryan wanted to explain that Sony had worked intensely to salvage Driveclub's disastrous online launch.

"Everybody in this building [Sony Europe HQ in London] and in the development community was absolutely distraught... I don’t think anybody should labour under the opinion that there was any feeling of insouciance or anybody being relaxed about that being the case.

"People were working 24/7, and that’s an expression that’s lightly used but people were working 24/7 trying to fix this."

Jim Ryan on the Driveclub launch

"People were working 24/7, and that’s an expression that’s lightly used but people were working 24/7 trying to fix this.

"Now, should the game have worked at launch? Of course. Should people pay £50 for something and expect it to work? Of course.

"I think one thing that the industry appears to have misjudged in the generational transition--where there’s a lot spoken about moving to a more straightforward PC architecture that should make it easy for developers to come to terms with next gen and all of that--is I think the massively enhanced online ambitions a lot of developers and publishers have identified as one of the opportunists of next gen, appear to have been way more technically challenging than anyone realised."