2013 to Be a Stellar Year for PlanetSide 2

This morning SOE made two major announcements about the future of PlanetSide 2.

ROADMAP

Creative Director Matt Higby laid out the team's six-month roadmap, stressing the importance of community feedback and involvement to the team. This includes the introduction of a new development tool, called Roadmap, which will allow the community to have a say in what the team's priorities are for the upcoming months.

"Since the very earliest days of PlanetSide 2's development, we've considered community involvement and feedback about the game's direction to be one of our most powerful and important assets. Having 'unparalleled community / developer communication' has been an important goal for us," says Higby. "Today we are thrilled to be taking that community enthusiasm for the ongoing development of PlanetSide 2 to a whole new level with the launch of Roadmap."

"Roadmap is a tool which allows the development team to expose our priorities, future plans, and release schedules to our player community," he continues. "...The true power of Roadmap comes from you, the player community. The purpose of Roadmap isn't just to give the community INSIGHT about what we're doing, it's also to give the community INPUT into what we're doing."

The Roadmap plan released today is largely based on top requests that were submitted by the player community. It's not a full and final list of all features and fixes coming in the next six months, as additional optimizations, bug fixes, and new weapons will come, too, but this listing includes major additions and top level features that the development team would like community input on. Higby adds that he is personally excited about the additions of a better player intro sequence and tutorial, the Mission System, a resource redesign, and outfit enhancements.

Beyond game systems, the team is also working on new content including the new continent, Hossin, which is scheduled for release in April, and new empire specific buggies in June.

"We hope you're as excited at the possibilities as we are, and look forward to working with you, as partners, on the continuing work of forging the future of online games," Higby closes.

Please check out Roadmap and the first six months of major updates at www.planetside2.com/roadmap.

MAJOR LEAGUE GAMING PARTNERSHIP

We are pleased to announce a new partnership which will introduce PlanetSide 2 to Major League Gaming’s burgeoning competitive gaming audience. MLG is the world’s largest eSports organization with millions of LIVE viewers, fans and competitors around the globe. The year-long collaboration will span all of MLG’s properties including original broadcast programming, online competition and presence at MLG events.

Over the next few months, the PlanetSide 2 and MLG teams will work closely to develop ideal competitive gameplay features and settings to showcase the game. With MLG’s consult and significant community involvement, SOE has committed to creating a long-term eSports initiative within PlanetSide 2 that will highlight an exceptional massively multiplayer competitive gaming experience.

SOE and MLG will also collaborate to create original programming to air on the MLG network at www.majorleaguegaming.com and www.Twitch.tv/Team/MLG. Details and a complete broadcast schedule will be released in the coming weeks. PlanetSide 2 players around the globe will soon after be able to compete via MLG’s GameBattles online competition site. In addition, PlanetSide 2 gaming stations will be featured at MLG’s first Pro Circuit event of 2013 – the Winter Championship in Dallas, Texas, from March 15-17.