A few weeks ago we reported that the Japanese release date of PS4 exclusive Driveclub on Sony's official webpage wasn't changed from the local launch date of the console on February 22nd.  Having a firm release date in Japan while there's still none in the west for a game developed on this side of the Pacific definitely sounded a little weird, so we chalked it as a rumor, counting the possibility of a simple oversight, but that possibility is becoming less and less likely.

First of all, recently Natural Doctrine has recently been delayed to March the 19th, and its date has been correctly updated on the official listing. Even more determining is the fact that the February 22nd release date has now popped up on basically every available Japanese retailer, starting from Sony's own official store.

We checked Amazon Japan, Lawson, Yodobashi Camera, Edion, Joshin, Suruga-ya, Yamada-Denki, Bic Camera, Dena Shopping, CDJapan, auMall, Tom's Web and more, and we simply couldn't find any retailer that did not mark the game for local release on February 22nd.

As mentioned above, it's now highly unlikely for the February 22nd Japanese release date to be a placeholder or an oversight. We're now less than two months from that date, and the western delay has been announced a long time ago. Other games have been delayed and their release dates have been correctly updated, while games that don't have a firm one are all marked as "TBA". While Sony didn't make any official announcement and kept the matter basically under wraps, considering all the evidence it's almost safe to assume, by now, that Japanese gamers will get their hands on Driveclub at the same time as the PS4's launch.

Lately we also found out that British retailer Shopto listed the game for a February 28th release, and a release on February 22nd in Japan would definitely add solidity to that listing, or at least to a western release on February, as retailers often use the last day of a release month as a placeholder date.

Considering that Japan seems to be firmly set on course for February 22nd, it's very likely that we'll receive an official announcement about a western release date soon. Of course we should chalk this as a rumor until an official announcement is actually made. We'll keep our feelers out and keep you updated as soon as we hear something relevant.