June 2012 PlanetSide 2 Producer's COMM LINK - BETA

Hi all! I wanted to start off this initial PlanetSide 2 Producer Letter to everyone in the community by saying a big ‘Thank you’. The development team has been working their butts off for the past year pulling the game together in anticipation of our first hands-on and Beta. All the fan support so far has been awesome and it’s been really motivating for everyone here as we’re cranking through making the game. At the end of the day we’re building this for the fans!

There is a crazy list of upcoming events this summer for PlanetSide 2 including ChinaJoy, GamesCom, San Diego Comic Con, and PAX Prime, and it really all kicked-off at E3 a few weeks ago. The Electronic Entertainment Expo was the first opportunity for hands-on with the game and thousands of people swamped the booth to do just that. It was three days of epic battles, headshots, tank explosions and kamikaze aircraft. The press jumped in as well and ended up sharing the love with nominations for 40 separate awards and 21 wins so far! For those that missed them, I’ve included some of the links below. The E3 demo was a critical milestone for PlanetSide 2, and we’re extremely proud of the team’s accomplishments, but we still have a ways to go... which is where all of you come in.

Like I said before, the community’s enthusiasm has been stellar, and the comments on Facebook, Reddit and Twitter have really helped shape the game. As we move forward we will continue to have that open dialogue with the PlanetSide 2 community as you are the most important members of our external team! That said, there has been a running theme from everyone revolving around Beta. That time is fast approaching and I wanted to take a moment to break down the phases of the upcoming PlanetSide 2 Beta and how your help is integral to the launch of the game.

We’re currently in Internal Closed Beta which includes daily team playtests, tons of optimizations, lots of bug fixing, polishing game mechanics... you get the idea. Our next step is a Technical Test Phase that will include testing our servers, concurrent players and further optimizations of both our client and our server. This critical step is necessary to ensure a solid foundation for the first phase of our External Beta. I want to be clear that this testing phase is not part of the actual Beta. I don’t want anyone feeling like this is some exclusive thing they didn’t get invited to. This is purely for making sure what video cards work, what drivers work, what machine speeds work and how they interact prior to External Beta.

External Beta will include primary rounds of entry for existing PlanetSide 1 players and additional External Beta registrants, including those who obtained Beta codes from the PC Gamer magazine cover feature. Playtests will be scheduled during this time to ensure the maximum testing of specific aspects of the game with ever increasing numbers of players. Your participation is extremely valuable to us and we’ll be balancing and revising base layouts based on your feedback. Again, we will be inviting as many of our existing PlanetSide 1 players as we can into the early phases of Beta determined by a number of different factors, including machine type. Rest assured PlanetSide 1 players... you’re top of the list in each phase.

As Beta progresses I will continue to send out more specifics on dates of each of the phases. If you don’t have a Beta code, you don’t have to go to eBay to get one. Prove your empire allegiance and tweet (@planetside2) for a chance to receive a Beta code. Be sure to check out our Facebook APP as well!  And, if you haven’t done so yet, sign up for Beta access at www.PlanetSide2.com and ensure your contact information and computer specs are up to date. Please also remember that Beta testers will be under an NDA (Non-disclosure agreement) which requires acceptance prior to admission into Beta.

Thanks again for all the support and help in making PlanetSide 2 a truly epic experience!

Josh Hackney

Executive Producer, PlanetSide 2

Join PlanetSide Day!

Can’t wait for the launch of PlanetSide 2 Beta? Itching for some action? Pass the time and start honing your skills again in PlanetSide 1! The community is returning to Auraxis this Sunday, July 1^st, in celebration of PlanetSide Day. In support of this monumental occasion, SOE is granting 30 days of free game time to every current subscriber and former PlanetSide player who had an active subscription! This grant will be processed by 11:59 PM PST June 27th, 2012, however as there are a large volume of accounts some may receive grants earlier than others.

If you need to download PlanetSide 1, head to our Get The Game page, find PlanetSide 1, and click Reinstall. We can’t wait to see everyone back!

 Also don't miss video of our E3 floor demonstration of PlanetSide 2!

E3 Awards and Nominations