Planetside 3 is coming, and there are big ambitions

Andy Sites, executive producer for Planetside 2 and Planetside Arena, has taken to the site for the former to share some news on the franchise, which comes a month after the launch of Arena as a free-to-play Early Access title.

"We're pushing forward with the intention to treat Early Access as it should be: a limited phase where we gather feedback and suggestions to help refine the foundational game systems, features, content and overall stability - as quickly as possible," he writes.

"Our goal is to finish implementing the features and content for what we believe are critical, then GTFO of Early Access as quickly as possible and start promoting the game. This might be contrary to other Early Access games right now, but we want to get back to the original intent of why "Early Access" started in the first place."

A new mode is also coming, which isn't battle royale and is based on "shorter, session-based matches". This will feature a new map specific to this mode, as well as drop-in/drop-out, capture points, vehicles, and more, with new mechanics coming in that'll also be used for future modes.

As for what the future holds for Planetside as a franchise, Planetside 3 is coming, but the team is aware of high expectations. In fact, Daybreak says Planetside Arena is a "stepping stone" to 3, "which we envision expanding from the current battlefields of Auraxis, to full-fledged galactic war with empires exploring, colonizing and conquering one another within an expansive galaxy".

"We envision PlanetSide Arena as a way to allow us to link present day PlanetSide 2 and PlanetSide 3 story lines, as well as providing an opportunity to try out new features, styles of play, etc."

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