14 DAY TRIAL // Sony Online Entertainment has got its hands busy at the moment with the launch of the DC Universe Online, the superhero based MMO which offers gamers a chance to roll around with Superman and Batman, but the company also plans to release three new MMOs during 2011, the much-delayed The Agency, the PlayStation 3 version of Free Realms and untitled follow up to PlanetSide.
The most exciting of the three announcements is that of PlanetSide Next, which was apparently worked on ever since 2009 and is slated for this year.
Talking to Eurogamer John Smedley, who is the leader of SOE, said, “we haven't announced a release date for it but you can expect it... We're looking at late first-quarter, early second-quarter.”
PlanetSide was special in the MMO world because it relied on first-person shooter mechanics and had battles that could involve huge numbers of players.
It's not clear what changes the sequel will make to the formula and how it will try to bring in more players and sustain itself in the long term.
Smedley says that The Agency, which is based around espionage and is set to arrive at the same time for the PlayStation 3 and the PC, is also set to arrive in the final half of 2011, with the extra development time set to allow the team working on it to deliver a polished, deep experience.
Free Realms is the only one of the three projects that can be played by any one that has a PC and enough free time, but Sony is interested in bringing over the more casual MMO to the PS3.
The PC version of the game has about 10 million gamers registered with a number of them paying to get content and a lot of them using the free to play model.
The same model will be used on the PS3, with the game arriving in February in North America and in March in Europe.