That the PC version of Driver: San Francisco must wait for a 30th September release represents a “natural delay” – “it wasn’t held back”, developer Ubisoft Reflections told Eurogamer.
“The PC version trails the console versions because the code-base comes from the consoles,” explained studio boss Martin Edmonson.
“It wasn’t held back.”
“When we get to the point where [the console version] is finished, the PC guys take the final version of the code-base and do everything that’s needed to build it into what they’ve already built.”
“There’s just a natural delay,” he said. “It’s nothing like as long as many other games, where the PC can follow the console by many, many months – it’s still fairly tight.”
Ubisoft only confirmed the staggered release of Driver: San Francisco on PC relatively recently, in early August.
Ubisoft PC games From Dust and Call of Juarez: The Cartel also suffered delays.
Ubisoft has come under fire for installing strict anti-piracy DRM protection on its PC games. Driver: San Francisco, at one point, required a constant internet connect. That was later dropped in favour of an online check-in once per play session.
Despite the backlash, Ubisoft Reflections’ Edmonson defended a publisher’s right to use DRM. “You have to do something,” he said – publishers have “every right” to protect their hefty game investments.
