Topic: Will Evolution Studios be able to recover from Drive Club?

So now that they PSN+ version of Drive Club is on indefinite hold, do you think Evolution Studios will be able to recover from this fiasco.  I am not talking so much as monetary but am talking reputation wise.

Honestly I think that Sony needs to just dissolve the studio at this point.  Not necessary fire people just move them elsewhere.  I think that if they were to come out with another game under the Evolution Studios name people will shone it due to Drive Club's fiasco.  Its sadly really but honestly would you buy another game that is made by Evolution Studios?  Do you think they can recover from this?

We'll see how the game sells, I've heard it's actually done pretty well. It's possible if it's enough of a seller that Sony may give Evolution another chance with a sequel, but at the same time, this debacle has really hurt both the studio's name and the DriveClub name. It's still too early to say for sure either way though. I think after the new year we'll know what's going to happen.

" Its sadly really but honestly would you buy another game that is made by Evolution Studios?"

Yes, they had server issues and they're fixing them what else can they do.

"I think that if they were to come out with another game under the Evolution Studios name people will shone it due to Drive Club's fiasco"

If that's how things work no dice game will sell as battlefield 4 is still broken in certain area today (but ALOT better than the train wreak it was)

"Do you think they can recover from this?"

By the time their next game rolls around people will joke about it being another disaster but it'll most likely be fine.

I don't think public perception would be an issue, most people don't even know what evolution is, they blame Sony for the fiasco..... the problem is Sony is unlikely to trust them with another big budget project.... if they don't dissolve the studio they may put them to work on smaller PSN titles

The sales do sound like they've been decent. In fact, what makes this more of a disaster is that it probably would have continued to sell strongly if it hadn't been such a mess. Right now, it feels like any momentum it had has gone.

I think Evolution Studios should be fine, but it's going to continue to be a rocky road for them. Will be interesting to see what they do next. DriveClub has been more or less a disaster from start to finish, even though it is a decent game.

All Evolution have to do is give us a bona-fide Ps4 Motorstorm release akin to Pacific Rift (series peak for myself) or go back to the WRC series they were good at producing on Ps2, and I'll forget all about this. As someone who's been enjoying Evolution games since the original WRC on Ps2 back in 2001, Its unfortunate to see them in this current predicament. I've had little interest in Driveclub anyway but I was at least looking forward to giving it a go with the Playstation+ release.

I with you on that, Pacific Rift was a great game!

Driveclub's a great game too, it's actually a shame. I know there are a lot of angry voices out there, but I'm just disappointed more than anything. The single player component is solid, and when you can get online and race (which is a lot of the time I've found), it's mostly fun, barring when you're in a lobby full of bumper car drivers. The intermittent and/or missing social features are obviously a massive blow to the game too.

I don't think there's much confidence in either the game or Evolution at the moment. It's hard to see how they'll recover beyond Sony closing/renaming/relocating the studio.

I hope they can get everything up and running properly, sooner rather than later, and of course, get the Plus edition out. But even then, haters gonna hate.

Evolution will be fine, especially when there have been companies like Bethesda selling broken games for a few years now. And lets face it Driveclub wasn't broken, and I still find it mad to this day how Skyrim got GOTY.

I hope so, as the release was a fiasco. Certainly deserve a bit of credit for getting the job done, finally after so much heat and bad publicity.

Driveclub is pretty decent now, and I have to say, the weather effects are some of the best I've seen for a fair while. From a purely selfish point of view, I'd like to see them stay around, even if its just to do a new Wipeout!

Problem is that it becomes less about the game launching broken, but being delayed about a year and than launching in the state it did. I don't think Evolution is going to die anytime soon, But I bet they're walking on eggshells so to speak. But they won't be killed due to the fact that the dev cycles of Gran Turismo tends to be a long time. I'd say get the DLC for driveclub out and start to focus on a new motorstorm and a new Wipeout game.

I actually bought the game during the holidays! I don't care much if they had delay issues or a rough launch. A friend told me the game was quite enjoyable and that's what matters to me.

Dc is my fave at the moment -good fun imo..everyone will see if/when the flliping psn version turns up -and it dosen't brake the servers.I think Evolution is a rubbish name -better to have a rebranding than stick with a name thats got a bad rep..they should get a new name and maybe forget a dc sequel for the time being.A new Wipeout or Motorstorm is a yes please.

No matter what the company does or makes, people are always going to be there to complain...that seems to be all of what people do anymore. Look at the Wii U for instance...people were complaining about there not being many games for it...then some new titles come out, they flop because no one buys them, people complain again.

Yeah, they probably are a little bit. Now that it's working, though, the sales have been good through bundles, and the consumer response is very positive at the moment. I think the worst is over for them, and they should be fine now.

I guess not. Sad to hear that people are losing their jobs, and I do hope they find a new one quickly.

You are more accurate than Pachter @Tasuki looking at your opening post - shame for evolution though. The UK driving games industry is dead in the water at this point. Why are we playing second fiddle to Turn 10 and Polyphony we need to get our game on with the most badass driving game studio the world has ever seen if the talent combined.

@themcnoisy: I know huh . I think the problems at launch were a factor in closing it down, I also have a feeling that Sony is restructuring itself due to the PSVR. Hopefully though Sony can keep up with how good Evolution was doing with Driveclub and the quality doesn't deminish.

@Tasuki: I do wonder if the imminent release of GT Sport and its VR (as well as GT7) is linked to the closure of Evolution. Driveclub could be in direct competition with it and 'could' impact on the 'sales'. Why would you buy GT if you have Driveclub and that runs on VR too? Its very rare for publishers to have developers working on games that are in direct competition with each other. Its not like the Driving games don't face competition from 3rd Party publishers - Project Cars, Assetto Corsa, Need for Speed, the Crew, F1 as well as Rally games too.

@themcnoisy: The UK isn't dead for Driving Games - Codemasters (F1, Grid, Rally) still exist and they make some of the best Rally games. Playground Games (makers of Forza Horizon) are UK based as are Criterion (Need for Speed) and Slightly Mad (Project Cars)

Can we just have a port of Road Redemption and I'll be happy.