Ubisoft has told gaming critics and reviewers they will not be receiving pre-release copies of The Crew for testing.
While the driving MMO has had four closed betas, with an open beta on the way from later today, Ubisoft said the game cannot be experienced properly without other real-world players.
“The Crew was built from the beginning to be a living playground full of driving fans, so it’s only possible to assess our game in its entirety with other real players in the world. And by other, we mean thousands and thousands and thousands of players – something that can’t be simulated with a handful of devs playing alongside the press,” said Ubisoft.
“For this very reason, The Crew will be available to media to begin their reviews when the game launches on December 2.”
There are two reasons why this should cause potential The Crew purchasers to exercise caution: Assassin’s Creed Unity, and Driveclub.
Ubisoft has been accused of not hesitating to release broken and buggy games of late, with both Watchdogs and Assassin’s Creed Unity coming under fire from critics and gamers for its buggy gameplay.
As an example, Ubisoft acknowledged after the launch of Unity that the game was experiencing certain “issues”, such as the main character falling through the floor, dropping frame rates, and the game failing to start at all.
In short, beware that which was born in the house of Ubisoft.
Another possible pothole in the road The Crew fans should look out for is untested network and server capabilities.
The recently-released PS4 exclusive online racing game Driveclub was plagued by server issues after its release, with publications reporting that even three weeks after the game hit the shelves there was not much rubber being burnt.
“Unfortunately, the road to launch has been a little rocky, and we are truly sorry that so many of you have not been able to enjoy everything that we had hoped Driveclub would deliver,” said the team behind the game.
The Crew is due to be released internationally for the PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Xbox 360 on 2 December 2014, and if my advice is worth anything: wait a week post-release before deciding whether you are ready to hit the road.
Seasoned online gamers, what advice do you have for The Crew fans? Let us know in the comments and forum.
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I learnt the hard way NEVER to pre-order PC games, from Need For Speed Rivals. I will definitely wait for PC reviews on this game….it sounds really interesting and cool.