How Destruction AllStars' Delay Helped the Team Prep a PS Plus Launch

Originally scheduled as a day-one PS5 launch exclusive, Lucid Games’ Destruction AllStars was pushed into February for a planned debut as a PlayStation Plus game. And ss Lucid and Sony XDEV team members tell IGN, the delay was in part to properly allow for that PS Plus launch, with the added benefit of making some adjustments that might have needed to wait for post-launch updates. “It made sense [to delay and go to PS Plus] just as a predominantly online multiplayer game. It absolutely made sense to go out to that widest audience possible. And what better way to do that than to the PlayStation Plus audience,” XDEV Senior Producer John MacLaughlin told IGN in an interview ahead of AllStars’ launch. MacLaughlin also noted that the developers have taken that time to prep their backend and servers accordingly to handle the potentially larger audience. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/01/27/destruction-allstars-state-of-play-video"] And AllStars Game Director Colin Berry noted how the move was something the Lucid and XDEV teams were eager to pursue. When it became a reality, it meant the team could prep for a launch that gives this new franchise its “best possible chance to succeed.” “It gives us the most people playing it, the most eyes on it, which means we get the most feedback, not just in terms of raw data and analytics, but we get feedback from the player saying, ‘We love this character and we want more of this.’ Or, ‘We like this or this isn't quite working how we wanted because the balance of this.’” [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=destruction-allstars-game-modes-reveal&captions=true"] And that decision to delay to allow for a launch via PS Plus, which entitles all subscribers of the service to a copy of AllStars, makes a lot of sense when considering there are over 40 million PS Plus subscribers by Sony’s last announced count, which gives this brand new franchise quite the built-in audience. But Berry also explained how the delay did give the team time to make adjustments that will benefit players as they jump right into the car combat action. “One of the main things that we polished in that time period was, um, the onboarding, the messaging of the game rules to people,” Berry said. “We had a couple of systems in for the tutorial that were working, but we knew it wasn't quite right. We knew we had plans for post-launch, we'll do this and we'll do this. And then suddenly, we don't have to wait for post-launch now, let's get all that stuff in.” Players will be able to see just what awaits them shortly, as Destruction AllStars will be available as a PS5 exclusive on February 2. For more on this week's PS5 exclusive release, check out the latest on Destruction AllStars' modes, currency, and more. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jonathon Dornbush is IGN's Senior News Editor, host of Podcast Beyond!, and PlayStation lead. Talk to him on Twitter @jmdornbush.