Now that we have all gotten over the fact of the GT5 delay it’s time to start asking the important question… Why, seriously why and how has this game been delayed again and for how long?
There are 2 main rumours about why the game has been delayed at the moment, the first one is the official line that Polyphony needed some time to finalise some of the more complicated parts of the system.
That makes me worry really as that would point to them having some technical problems which means that they cannot guarantee that the game will be ready in time for Christmas.
Yamauchi responded to one such call on twitter by saying
“I believe we won’t keep you waiting until then (end of the year)â€
The key point is that he believes it instead of stating outright that it won’t happen.
The other rumour doing the rounds is that the delay is down to a new Sony mandate that all new games must include Firmware 3.50 and GT5 has been entirely build on version 341 of the SDK. Moving up to 350 wasn’t expected to be a problem but apparently it is and that is why there is a delay.
The move to Firmware 3.50 was made mandatory thanks to the filthy pirates who were cheering when they found a way around the PS3’s bullet proof anti-piracy platform. So in essence if this rumour is true you need to go take out your frustrations on the pirates and not Sony.
However both of these rumours (which could be the same one) have resulted in another problem, the factories that produce the Blu-Ray discs are working overtime at the moment to get games and movies out by Christmas and with this delay Sony has now missed their pre-reserved slot.
They are busy negotiating with the factories to get another 3 week slot on the machines, to produce their 7 million units, but as you can imagine no other titles or movies are offering to move.
The end result, Sony and Polyphony digital are aiming for a late November or early December release but if they can’t fix the bug and get a manufacturing date locked in very soon we may only be seeing GT5 in 2011.
Sources: TheBrokeGamer, Andriasang, NYTimes
Update: Digital Foundry has recently tweeted the following
“sounds to me like GT5 failed final sub rather than a firmware version problem.”
Now that’s not good news at all… this would point to a much deeper problem if it failed a standard submission.. which is what I am guessing sub stands for.
Last Updated: October 15, 2010
darthdad
October 15, 2010 at 08:27
Thanks for the update Gavin.
Grant Hinds
October 15, 2010 at 09:06
Bloody pirates. First Somalia and now this!
al360
October 15, 2010 at 10:19
okay me dumb ““sounds to me like GT5 failed final sub rather than a firmware version problem.â€
but what does this mean? help?
WeRRieS ZA
October 15, 2010 at 10:30
GT5 will cause your PS3 to explode!
Gavin Mannion
October 15, 2010 at 10:36
Like I said I am not entirely sure but I guessed it to mean “Now that’s not good news at all… this would point to a much deeper problem if it failed a standard submission.. which is what I am guessing sub stands for”
lans
October 15, 2010 at 10:48
how can sony even think about reserving slots if the game has not gone gold, this game is coming out late december, early jan from previous history of gt.
With a staggered release date ie, first japan, then america and europe if the game does not go gold by november the 14th 2010, this is following gt 4 and gt 2 trends
D4RKL1NG
October 15, 2010 at 11:04
I swear if this game don’t get perfect review scores then I’m going to kick a puppy for every month it was delayed.
Mr Bridge
October 15, 2010 at 11:14
If there’s one game that’ll persuade me to shell out for a PS3, this is it. I’d rather it be delayed and be in tip-top condition than suffer what I have with Formula One 2010’s rushed release.
Speaking of delays, you guys think this is bad, I’ve been waiting for Diablo 3 for much longer! but then Blizzard seem to have a track record for releasing “when it’s ready” an impressive policy which Polyphony seem to have adopted 😉
Grant Hinds
October 15, 2010 at 11:31
“sounds to me like GT5 failed final sub rather than a firmware version problem.â€
you guessed it wrong :getlost:
lans
October 15, 2010 at 11:36
polyphony where only 3 days late, the rest is sony issues, ie the firmware and the printing of copies.
Sony has 3 factories in Australia capable of printing about 330 000 copies a week, plus im sure they have more factories in europe and japan,they usually print 2-3 million copies so it’ll take about 3 weeks to print and about 3 weeks to distribute?
so i think november 26, seems to be the new magic number according to unofficial russian blogs, and retailers, they seem to know whats happening on their side for some reason,*(first to break news of delay)
AC!D
October 15, 2010 at 14:51
Well Fallout is coming next week so personally i dont want to split my time between two big games so im happy its a december release. December is always a quiet month for games so GT5 will fit perfectly into my schedule.
Id rather have a polished game that sit with 2GB’s worth of patches just because of the immature nerd rage reaction to the delayed news.