Sega of Japan revealed today that Phantasy Star Online 2 will not only arrive on PC, Vita and smartphone (iOS/Android) devices, but will be based on the free-to-play model of MMO’s. The PC and Vita versions will be similar and offer cross platform gameplay while the smartphone versions will be a simpler, more “personal” version of the game.The PC version will release in Japan this summer with the smartphone versions this winter and the Vita version in spring 2013.
No word yet if the game will see HD console release in the future.
Ad:Related posts:
Phantasy Star Online 2 create demo coming April 5th, have new screens while you wait
How currency in Phantasy Star Online 2 will work
SEGA announces release dates for Jet Set Radio Vita and Mobile
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed hits iOS and Android tomorrow with Ryo Hazuki joining the race!
Elysian Shadow developers tease stretch goals
I’d buy a Vita just to play that
wow!
At first I thought they meant that there would be no subscription fees and was extremely pleased. Now I understand that there are no fees what so ever. You dont even have to buy the game. All free. This is terrible news. When has the freenium model EVER worked? And how exactly are they going to be making any money off of this title? Sounds pretty goddamn disastrous. It doesn’t make one feel confident regarding the quality of the game at all.
It works great on spiral knights. The thing with the free to play model is, that it attracts alot more people that way, and the ones that usually would never pay for something may end up spending a little quick buck while the rich and the hardcore will pay alot. Then there are people like me who are gonna pay occasionally for stuff.
I like the model of spiral knights. Everything is available for the free player but it requires alot more effort and hastle to get certain things for a f2player.
They could also fuck it uP however for pso2 by making equips and stuff premium. That would be kind of awful yeah…
It actually works extremely well, thats the soul reason Sega baught out Three Rings the developer of Spiral Knights.
Spiral Knights is not a valid comparison. It’s a simple game that doesn’t boast the complexity or quality that the Phantasy Star brand does/should. The freenium model can work for shallow, cheap feeling games yes, but I don’t think that’s what fans are looking for in PSO2.
Er, free to play is pretty much the future of any large scale MMO now, it is not a matter of when the freenium model has ever worked, but rather in this day and age, it is the only way that happens to work! There is a reason why Sony allowed people to play that DC MMO completely free, in any othercase that game happened to be a complete and utter failure it seemed.
As for it working, check Tribes or World of Tanks, it is a perfectly acceptible model in this day and age.
Well I’ve cooled off and looked at some of the games you mentioned. if heavy hitters like DC universe and Tribes are going with the F2P model, maybe this really is the future of online gaming. At least with B listers like Phantasy Star. It’s not like PSU was flying off shelves when it came out at 49.99. here’s hoping for the best game possible.
Free to play, pay to win I’m guessing. It’s free but most of your equipment will suck unless you pay for the given item. At least..that’s how most free to play things work.
Interesting. Once it comes out I’ll check it out if its free. Cool.
Wow this game is going to come out on such a broad choice of platforms…..android and IOS even?
if they have a game enery clock that resets every so many hours, that will be a pain in the butt. suppose I just played and used up my time, but them my friends are on soon after and ai want to join them, I have to pay.
If the game is free except for buying fancy outfits, that’s great with me, but I don’t want any kind of game timer.
Or they could do what World of Warcraft does, and make it only pay after a certain level, or just make it cheaper than the past, like 2$ or 5$ per month.
Also, I wonder if you eill be able to do stuff like feed mags faster by paying.
It’s coming out this summer? I didn’t think it was that far in development. I guess free-to-play explains the visuals….
Edit; not that they’re bad-looking, but certainly not PC-worthy.
Yeah, this brings a whole lot of doubts to the table. I wouldn’t hold out for more than 4 unique areas/ bosses.
If you have seen the new closed beta screens that SEGA release you wouldn’t be so negative about the graphics. Also seeing as how its better looking (by miles) than Sony’s big budget MMO DC Universe Online (which also recently went free-to-play).
No, it doesn’t look bad for what it is. https://www.google.com/search?ix=sea&q=DC+Universe+Online&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=KSdxT9SSG8nWtgeSl6n1Dw&biw=1680&bih=906&sei=KydxT6qpJcGcgwey7IQ9
I like not being required to do a monthly fee, but sometimes those not-so-micro transactions go higher than they should. I’m very interested to see how they implement the paying “feature” compared to Spiral Knights.
Info that was translated in the Phantasy Star fan blog about the cash shop:
“they will not sell over powerful weapons as cash items for large sums of cash”
From the plethora of gameplay vids and alpha testing feedback, I don’t think we need to worry too much about the quality of the game. Long time PSO/U fans are getting EXACTLY what they want out of this game. Now it’s going to be free? Great!
This game is going to get the attention it always deserved; and that alone trumps any of my concerns about how Sega will make it a sustainable enterprise.
Thank you, Sega, for making this Monday awesome!
Fantastic news. I’ll probably give it a shot now :).