Don't Panic! Arena won't kill Planetside, it will save it.

I've been following and reading a lot about todays announcement.. Ive read every news post, went through the reddit and the forums here, and even discussed it will fellows in game. And one thing that I want to say right now, is that this is NOT the end of planetside, and very far from it. You need to see the whole picture and see where Arena fits before you begin lamenting the end of the game. And hopefully after reading this post, you'll understand why and can rest at ease.

Arena, at least in the way i've read it and understand by now, is a spinoff. By all meanings of the word, and the devs see it this way too. Yes resources likely went into it that could have benefited planetside 2, but you must understand now that, as a franchise, planetside has been going through rough times. SOE nearly went bankrupt when planetside 2 didn't hit as hard as they hoped, and since then DBG has been trying to bring the games profits back up ever since.

No matter how much we dislike monetisation for development nowadays, you would be ignorant to dismiss that all games need to be profitable in order to see support, and despite Planetside 2 almost crashing, the company still hasn't lost its faith in it and has still been trying to dump as much resources into it as they can afford to make sure it doesn't die, and I can commend them for that.

But lets be real here, they need more income if we are to see planetside 2 see it's potential, and right now planetside 2, being a 7 year old game, has ran out of steam. And if they keep trying to make planetside 2 more profitable, theyll only keep driving more and more players away. In other words, they need to expand the franchise into a new formula, and into a new title, and they need to do it soon, REALLY soon.

Yes, planetside 3 would be a great answer to this problem. But to build a whole new game to the same scale of planetside 2 or more? I just dont see the company having the funding for that when they can't even afford to regularly dish out content updates for their current game.

Thats where I see the concept behind Arena coming into play. Lets look at it for a sec..

It reuses the same old engine with updated visuals.

Its lighter in scale and scope than planetside 2 with less vehicles and classes to balance.

It's for a genre thats easy to pick up and get into, and appeals to the casual audience, but with Planetside 2's unique, large scale touch and skin.

But most of all, it didn't need a full studio to create, and therefore significantly quicker and cheaper to develop. this way they can get the income they need to support planetside 2 and develop planetside 3

Thats why Arena is happening, whether you believe this or not. And i've been following this game series and playing it ever since the original planetside and it's perhaps my most beloved game of all time, even if most of that is nostalgia.. So i've taken the time to find as much insight into this as I possibly could, and now Im satisfied with what I know, and can rest.

i want to see this game series survive and continue to gives others the sensation, scale, and excitement that only planetside 2 now can provide for YEARS more to come. But at this point, without some extra income for the series, I just don't see this happening. But with Arena, this gives the devs a chance to find some new income source to continue supporting their current game

But if there is one thing I want you to get out of this most of all, is that DBG is NOT dropping support for planetside 2, and Planetside 3, is in deed, going to happen. In the producers letter they make it clear that not only will planetside 2 continue to be supported afterwards, but a lot of the engine and graphical improvements will see it's way to planetside 2 and that planetside 2's current team is still actively developing new content for planetside 2. So in a way, this benefits planetside 2 not only in the financial department but also the performance and graphical one.

And as for Planetside 3, Sites, as quoted in the Polygon post, "This is a stepping stone to whats next. We're absolutely planning for a future planetside game!" That should be proof enough that all Arena is, is nothing more than a Planetside spinoff, and is not going to affect the current main title, or any future ones either. All I can see is good coming out of this, and if this game proves successful I couldnt have better hopes for actually seeing our planetside 3 hopes come to life, and hopefully succeed at all of what Planetside 2 failed at.

That is to be determined though, but for now.. I can safely say this isn't the end of planetside 2 and its not the end of planetside 3. Whether you choose to believe that or not, planetside as a franchise survives, and Arena will help make sure of that.

I'm very excited about Planetside Arena.. words cant even explain how awesome this is going to be .. it will bring tonnes of new players and revive the franchise.. Planetside really needed something new and exciting and this is it . I personally cannot wait.

They JUST had their 6 year anniversary. Minor detail, but still.

The point is, is that they should of put more dev energy into Planetside 2, added new vehicles, maps and emotes into it too. They decided to make a new game, toss the 3 faction lore out the window and we are now "mercenaries". They took membership money that fans were paying for PS2 and put it towards Arena.

We didn't ask for Arena to be separate, we wanted Arena type gameplay modes INSIDE Planetside 2. Instead they ask PS2 fans to caught up $30 for half a game so PS2 vets feel like its an insult. They should of simply made Arena a menu option inside Planetside 2. Then they could charge people if they want access to it or still play the F2P standard PS2.

Arena is a small chunk of planetside 2, dumbed down and had a price sticker put on it.
-No air vehicles (from what I can tell on the trailer). I love flying in PS2, I'm a lib pilot through and through.
-3 classes, not 6 like PS2, so right there its half a game for meta strat.
-No more 3 factions (which might be a good thing imo)
-No faction customization, meaning everything is basically standard with no personality.

I understand why Daybreak made Arena....but to me it feels like an insult. I put 1400 hours into Planetside 2 and expected Planetside 2.5 or 3 to be announced, not a Battle Royal, Call of Battlefield/front type clone that is already overdone and not unique, just marketed as unique.

They sold out. They sold out Planetside 1 & 2's uniqueness to the casual audience that often bounces from game to game and aren't that loyal. They traded long term fans for short term gains.

I hope Arena does well, but I hope Planetside 2 does better. Or at the very least, I hope people play Arena and want to play something bigger so they head to Planetside 2.

lol if you think anyone out there is going to pay $30 to play this


tfw matchmaking will take 20 mins because there wont be enough players online to fill lobbies

Good luck Daybreak~~

Agreed, though I'm sure they will start matches even if its 1v1. As long as the numbers are even, from big to small the lobby will launch. Well at least if they were smart they would run it like that. If you had to wait for 250 people to be in the lobby....after 6 months from release....then that is a different story haha.

Actually for me it's 7. I was in the alpha, lol.

But I understand how you feel. It can feel like they was just shifting focus away from your game and I can understand as that was the same way I felt when I first saw the announcement.. But im now looking at it from a business perspective and beyond justt planetside 2 alone, but the franchise as a whole.

They will continue support of planetside 2, and the success of Arena will only encourage more investment to their main title and a future planetside 3. They haven't forgot about why they are here, which is why I strongly believe that this is exactly what Planetside 2 and the franchise as a whole needs. It will bring more players to Planetside 2, and therefore more income, allowing largger dev budgets, and fund the future release of their 3rd main game.

I just don't see planetside 2 and it's waning income being able to do this on it's own, so they NEED a popular spinoff to continue to take the franchise into the next decade, even if that meant weve had to be starved of improvements and new content for the current game for the time being to make that second venue of income possible.

This is literally the only thing I can see that they could have done as a company to save the franchise besides selling it off.. And lets hope it never has to come to that.

I

I just did, so did my brother, and my best friend is doing so tomorrow..

Not to mention at least half of my outfit already, as our discord seem to suggest..

The only thing I'm not really keen on is having to have steam to play it, which is stopping me from pre ordering it.. I wish it could be a standalone client like Planetside 2.

Everyone saying this is going to "hurt" or "kill" ps2, newsflash, its already dead. If ps2 was doing just fine there wouldnt be a need for this change but as it stands ps2 is on its last legs. Changes need to be made and those of you that cant adapt, well, there's always warthunder lol

Fact is that something had to happen cause PS2 is dying. I just don't know if a ripoff game with fees will really start a hype that PS 2 could benefit from.
To me this feels like a really risky approach. Not only do they have less money for the PS2 development but they as well may split the playerbase and end up without of generating enough new players to have either game survive. Currently the BR market is rather crowded(currently Fortnite is cannibalizing all others) and I do not see what is so unique about the rushed ripoff of a 7 year old game that it could have a massive impact right away(and for large scale battle games you need that or players will have to wait for an eternity to get a game started). DBG better have some marketing aces up their sleeves (and given the negative backlash I can say that the anouncement event seems to have failed already) or this may as well speed up the downfall of planetside...

I hope it will work out for them but to me it looks like a Hail Mary pass...

What the OP suggests is exactly what flashed by while watching the stream, at first a bit afraid that it focused on planetside, but then relief that it seems to be the same great game engine, for PC, expanded collaboratively with ps2. This gives ps2 visibility and more than that, exposure to a wider audience to experience the game and hopefully bring more players into it as well.

The season focus is about expanding game modes, with ps2 representing the biggest expansion of that already, itself expanding with the new continent and new faction and whatever else that feeds back from PS:A. It's got to be a win, and the publicity from new game reviews and streamers has got to spread - I didn't know about planetside2 for a long time, but heard about it first from a player in another online game, and decided one day to try it out with friends, and still here having a lot of fun.

I've been suggesting this BR mode for almost 2 years now. [https://www.reddit.com/r/Planetside/comments/6q7hab/suggestion_survival_mode/] + [https://www.reddit.com/r/Planetside/comments/7wvh57/planetside_2_battle_royale/]

These are necessary changes and a simple one to implement if Planetside franchise wants to survive.
You don't have to like Battle Royale mode to realize it is the current game meta. It is the freight train that will not stop anytime soon and has quickly dethroned the older and more tradition FPS game modes.

It's also no surprise that the old timers and hardcore vets of Planetside game would overwhelmingly disprove of this as you can see on the dislikes on both my suggestion posts because the reason why the vets are sticking to the game all these time is because it's been virtually unchanged all these years. (yes they're adding new features all along but the core game remains the same).

A new age of gaming has begun and the majority and most of the younger players have been absorbed by what's trending and what's the hottest games. By staying the same at it's core, PS2 has been overlooked by the world and has become almost irrelevant.

You would barely see support for a BR mode in PS2 not because the people doesn't want it. [But because the people who wanted it doesn't even know the game existed in the first place.] It's almost all opposition from PS community because the only people that remains in the community are the vets who doesn't want to play BR, otherwise they would've left PS community a long time ago.

I love Planetside, I've been playing since open beta iirc. And as much as I agree with the vets, I can't continue to be biased against game changes. Because integrating BR mode is essentially the best way to move forward and grow the community.

Hopefully one day, Planetside 3 comes and have everything we ever wanted. I can't predict what the future holds, but I am certain there is no future for Planetside if there's no effort made in keeping up with the trends. Games only survive if they're relevant.

OP. You're off your rocker for a couple of reasons.

#1 PS2 WILL suffer, as there's no way random gamers are going to chose this over other like bby shooters. Arena players will come from this game. All PS2 has to offer is a massive battle, and I guarantee you won't see big numbers in Arena.

#2 You're smoking crack if you think Arena doing well will help PS2. H1Z1 did astonishingly well for a while, and what did we see? PS2 money sent to that game. It won't happen, but if Arena were to succeed, money would be drawn from PS2 to support it, just like in the past.

Companies must pay salaries and make profits, so nothing wrong in that.

However, do you realize that a one-time payment is the worst monetization method?

A good game is 60 USD, and it is a one-time payment.

Make a game for free and do micro-transactions, if you are not greedy you will sell a lot. Not everybody is willing to fork 60 USD but you will find tons of people willing to give 1-2 USD once a while.

Make a game for free and offer a subscription service paid monthly with some perks attached. Make it 10 USD per month. You will find many people willing to pay it, 10 USD is not that much and you get perks.

The point is a one-time / high / upfront payment is a barrier. You risk a lot of money for something you may not even like.

A free game encourages you to try and if you like it enough you will sooner or later buy some cosmetic and/or subscribe to get some perks.

Man, I am disappointed. First off they tried battle royal already with H1Z1 which bombed hard, and now they think infecting it on PS will make it any different?

They wasted chunks of years worth of resources wasting time on a competitive shooter version of Planetside wasting development on the battle islands that lead to absolutely nowhere. Literally all that dev time wasted never seeing any practical use.

And now they are making this BR game which without question will fail and go about as far as a flopping fish in sand. What makes it worse is not only does it cost 20-30 dollars but even has a season pass? Pure scumbucketry.

The whole live stream was all pure PR-Talk to the nth degree with only wrel having any transparency of being a actual person (of which he didn't get much of chance to say anything with both lead guy and CManager talking over him). Screw the main lead and the producer of the series. Watching them was like watching actors spouting a script at a press conference.

I love the current devs we have working on PS2. Sucks that the higher ups have to be such fools.

I'm currently looking for a new game for when PS2 dies or comes so close that Briggs population is a normal server population. It won't be PSA.

I have invested another 20 Euro in Nick Silva’s shirt and the rest of the Planetside 2 team today. Creativity first!

The internet doesn't need more Battle Royal games, but the people on the internet crave it. By DBG making one that give other gamemodes, it is not only appetizing to those Fortnite playing pieces of trash who dab on them haters, but they will want more of it. They will pay for useless things. DBG will earn money, and spend it on Planetside 2. However, those dabbers will want more updates, so DBG will invest a little time to make more money. Soon, they will have promotional deals for Planetside 2, that will lead those dabbers to come here. Planetside 2 makes more and more revenue, and we long time players get what we want. (I want the Railjack to have a close range mode like in PTS, because all the other ESSR's can go close range other than the Railjack but that is besides the point.) Planetside 2 grows in development team, and we get updates more regularly. Planetside Arena will keep getting more and more people, while all of us sit back and enjoy what we have rightly earned. Planetside 2 gets on the charts as a very popular game, the DBG dev team keeps growing, DBG makes more money. Soon SOE comes back into the picture and is proud that the game is getting back big, and they send some people to work on Planetside 2. And we all get what we want and we live happily ever after. The End.

Not sure I understand what you mean. I started with Tribes 1, moved into its only true successor, Legions:OD, which died since it is so niche (servers still up but empty), went on to an arena shooter which has been a major disappointment due to severe balance problems, feeling claustrophobic due to small maps and extremely repetitive overall gameplay, constant hyperactivity necessary to do well which is outright tiring for hours on end, excessive reliance on your contribution to the team and in turn seeing all your match efforts obliterated by a single team member dragging everyone down, MMR calculations favoring certain classes that pin you into impossible to win matches, and pure gameplay randomness, chaos, and non-stop mindless spam. Finally found planetside2 and was really amazed to see a game, although not perfect, succeed so well in ever regard where past ones have failed, and at an epic open-world scale.

Arena shooters can be fun, but only if done right, and if PS2 can make it happen on the large scale, maybe they can succeed in expanding PS2 with these new game modes. I think it's the right call to do this separately, as part of a new game, as opposed to within PS2 itself, so players can choose what they like and feel like playing, while each game benefits from the others' innovations and successes.

Maybe I have rosy colored glasses on, but I really don't see anything wrong with taking the core game engine, refining it, and expanding on it, all without leaving PS2 behind since those players who enjoy other game modes, like me, could find PS2 'mode' fun as well.

I heard once you have the base game, it's all you need to keep playing.

I wouldn't know what the best is, but I'd prefer a one time payment, with payed cosmetic options that can also be unlocked by simply playing the game but not as easily or readily, and free trial periods. This also enforces some community standards so one can't simply make endless accounts easily.

No one is complaining about paying for stuff. In relation to PS2, my complain is that any money I put in to this game doesn't go towards this game.

Over the history of this game under DBG, I'd wager that maybe 15% of our subscriptions went back to PS2. The rest went to H1Z1 or Arena. I simply refuse to pay anything more when I know my money won't go towards the product I'm using. It's not at all that I'm cheap, but I want to support our devs and PS2. I'd bet that I'd there were a $10 Planetside membership instead of a $15 Da break membership, they'd net MUCH more money, and PS2 could finally be fixed. But yeah, Arena is a perfect example of why I stopped buying anything in this game.