Slightly Mad Studios, maker of Project CARS, announced that the forthcoming title will now be released on April 2nd (for PC, April 7th for XBox and PlayStation), not March 20th like previously planned. While not nearly as significant in terms of time, this is the second delay for the title following the first delay that pushed the release date from November 2014 to March of this year.
Head of Slightly Mad Studios, Ian Bell, had this to say about the delay.
“Moving a release date was not an easy decision to make, as we know our fans are eager to get their hands-on on Project CARS. But we know that these extra days will allow us to provide the best game experience that our fans deserve. We assure you the wait will be worth it when the game does arrive early April.”
So how are we supposed to feel? I think its a one step forward, two steps back situation. On one hand its good that they are allowing themselves the time to debug the title so it isn’t sloppy (or as sloppy) at launch. On the other hand, wasn’t this title suppose to be done three months ago? The first delay was actually/sold as an opportunity to claim more gamers in the spring when the gaming industry isn’t saturated by the Christmas season. Ok…I can sorta kinda buy that. But then to turn around and miss the date three months later isn’t good.
Of course, software is finicky thing, especially when you’re launching on four different platforms (PC, XBox One, PlayStation 4 and Wii U). We’ve certainly seen plenty of deadline misses in the sim world – iRacing only missed driver swaps by about three years… – but this one seems to sting pretty bad. I don’t know if its the long, public, gestation period of the title or the amount of promising the Project CARS PR team has made about it being the best thing since sliced bread but I’m not feeling too thrilled at the moment.
Hopefully this will be the last delay and a truly well-bundled up title is released on April 2nd.
I wonder if it has anything to do with Ride being released the same week?
I would think Ride would be more afraid of PCars. From the way the statement reads, just sounded like they needed more time to work bugs out.
Nothing of the kind. 2 more weeks is what was needed to get right. The SMS Devs have been working 16 hour shifts since December.
give us early access on steam, I am sure a larger community will help to find bugs quicker
It’s a purely polishing at this point. Putting those extra special touches on the UI, Tracks, and Cars. 80,000 WMD members have it already and we are tripping over each other reporting bits of features that need finishing and the occasional bug.
“But we know that these extra days will allow us to provide the best game experience that our fans deserve.”
I’m not a fan, i’m a customer. Unless they are giving away free copies to race fans, then i’ll be a fan for once.
I don’t buy the argument some are making that the game needed more ‘polish’. No launch date would be delayed strictly over some minor cosmetic details that could be fixed in an update.
From what I remember of other game launches, the final code (aka game goes ‘Gold’) has to be complete ~1 month before their launch date, so that they have enough time to start making copies of the game and shipping to distributors. Given that, the ‘Gold’ deadline was probably sometime this week in order for them to make their March 17-20 launch date.
I know I’m totally speculating here, but with a multi-platform release and all the associated ‘check boxes’ required by Sony, Microsoft, Steam(?), etc, it’s easy to see how that deadline could be missed. My guess is that something critical (for at least one platform) was still missing/wrong. Now they must reset the whole launch process and timing. That involves re-scheduling the entire launch with the manufacturers, distributors, etc. So even though that last bug could be fixed already, the reset process is dauntingly complex. Hence the 2 week delay…..
I have nothing to back this up….. just my theory. Fingers crossed they throw us some free DLC shortly after launch as a ‘sorry we missed the launch date’ bonus.
I think that, generally, a game goes “gold” 2 weeks before release. At least i know that’s how it used to be, unless things have changed over the years.
The April 2nd date is PC only. The PC version is a digital game via Steam (no copies needed)
PS4 & XB1 will release April 7th.
WiiU still has no release date.
Makes me wonder if Assetto Corsa might see a small delay in releasing V 1.1 and the dream pack 🙂
Just a 2 week delay I don’t think that’s too big a deal, they should have made it April 1st then delay it again and say that was an April Fools joke. lol Look at rfactor2 (Forever beta maraton!) a lot of content or a lot of partial content in there case I sure like to know who is the project manager? Seem like they have no plan just releasing stuff that is incomplete all over the place but they have so much potential. That being said I know Projecr CARS been WIP for years now but at least we have a release date. I think? Maybe???
Yeah I am disappointed, especially since I pre-ordered it on Steam. BUT if they can make it work right, it will be worth it. Nothing like a game that does not work. Been watching some video on YouTube and it looks really cool. My triples are waiting for it.
what is realeased on april the 2nd. when u say it’s released on all platforms the 7th ?
PC was to be released on april 2nd. and am sure it still could be. but nooo. wouldnt want the pc to look like its a superior machine. which it is. god damn it. give us the game if its that god damn xboxone screw it. tell them you cant work with microsoft crap built buy slaves in some backward country. why should xbox one slow down and cost you. get the game out. bloody may now. every month i think right we are almost there and they put it back again. fuk sake.