PlanetSide

Last updated
PlanetSide
PlanetSide updated logo.png
Genre(s) Massively multiplayer online first-person shooter
Developer(s) Rogue Planet Games
Publisher(s) Daybreak Game Company
First release PlanetSide
May 20, 2003
Latest release PlanetSide Arena
September 19, 2019

PlanetSide is a series of massively multiplayer online first-person shooter video games published by Daybreak Game Company. The first game in the series was published by Sony Online Entertainment in 2003 for Microsoft Windows and featured thousands of players fighting over territory in a persistent world. PlanetSide 2 , a sequel, was released in 2012, featuring faster-paced gameplay, modern first-person shooter mechanics and high graphical fidelity.

Contents

The main series games in the franchise chronicle the efforts of three factions (the New Conglomerate, Vanu Sovereignty and Terran Republic) as they fight for control of the planet Auraxis. Players have access to a vast arsenal of weapons and vehicles unique to their faction and engage in combined arms warfare to conquer territory in a persistent world.

Rather than featuring small, instanced matches like many other first-person shooters, the PlanetSide series features massive, seamless continents that allow battles potentially thousands of users can participate in. [1] Both PlanetSide and PlanetSide 2 have set the Guinness World Record for "Most players in an online FPS battle," with the latter still holding the record to this day; [2] [3] this record has since been unofficially surpassed by PlanetSide 2 players in both 2020 and 2022. [4] [5]

Plot

Factions

Left to right: NC, TR, and VS soldiers at the E3 2012 PlanetSide 2 showcase E3 Expo 2012 - Planetside soldiers (7640586184).jpg
Left to right: NC, TR, and VS soldiers at the E3 2012 PlanetSide 2 showcase

Terran Republic (TR)

The Terran Republic is an authoritarian colonial government that leverages military might to maintain strict control over the colonial citizens of Auraxis, ostensibly on behalf of the mother Terran Republic back on Earth. Obsessed with the preservation of law and order, the TR see the insurrectionary war against themselves as all the more justification for strong-armed countermeasures. They are thus seen by their opponents to be an oppressive and dictatorial force, but many also view the TR as the only hope for lasting security and peace. Their colors are red and black. TR forces are distinguished by their use of rapid fire conventional weaponry, large-capacity magazines, high speed medium tanks and fast flying fighter aircraft. [6] [7]

New Conglomerate (NC)

The New Conglomerate operates as a loosely organized band of self-proclaimed freedom fighters. Viewed as corporate-backed terrorist guerrillas by their adversaries, they violently oppose the stranglehold that the Terran Republic has on Auraxis. Led by an unusual quorum of outcasts, frontier industrialists, pirates, and turncoat military leaders, the New Conglomerate is unwavering and prepared to achieve freedom from oppression by any means necessary. Their colors are blue and gold. NC forces use hard hitting electromagnetic weapons such as gauss and railguns that are devastating at short and medium range but are bulky and unwieldy with moderate reload speeds. They employ durable, heavily armed shock troops with slow, well-armored heavy tanks and heavy fighters loaded with arrays of crushingly powerful ordnance. [8] [7]

Vanu Sovereignty (VS)

The Vanu Sovereignty are a secretive and cult-like group who believe that only through the untapped power of alien technology can humanity truly evolve towards the next phase of its existence. They are a technologically advanced and cunning faction, employing powerful reverse-engineered alien technologies on the battlefield. Their singular purpose is to uncover secrets hidden away in ancient artifacts scattered over the surface of Auraxis, and fight only to seize and retain exclusive access to research sites and materials. As such, they view the war with its shifting territories and militarized zones as a pointless impedance to their infinitely more important work. Their colors are violet and cyan. The VS use advanced plasma and laser weaponry, characterized by lack of bullet drop, high accuracy, low recoil, and quick-reloadable energy cells. They deploy highly maneuverable, levitating battle tanks capable of efficiently traversing almost any terrain or incline, as well as anti-gravity fighters capable of inertia-defying breakneck aerobatics. [7]

Nanite Systems Operatives (NSO)

Nanite Systems Operatives are not a unified group of soldiers, but rather robot mercenaries who hold no allegiance to any faction and fight on a contractual basis for the highest bidder. Nanite Systems staff operate these robotic units remotely by proxy, much unlike the fully human combatants the three factions typically employ. [9] NSO units are automatically assigned to the Terran Republic, New Conglomerate or Vanu Sovereignty depending on which faction has the lowest population, but can also remain loyal to one faction unconditionally (available only to subscribed players in-game). [10] Although they lack access to other empires' weapons and vehicles, NSO units can use all common pool equipment, which emphasizes versatility and utility, in addition to their own unique arsenal of weapons and vehicles.

Games

Release timeline
2003 PlanetSide
2004–2011
2012 PlanetSide 2
2013–2018
2019 PlanetSide Arena

Main series

PlanetSide

PlanetSide was released for Microsoft Windows on May 20, 2003. Multiple expansions for the game were released throughout its lifespan. Active development ceased and the game became free-to-play on April 29, 2014. [11] The game's servers were permanently closed on July 1, 2016. [12]

PlanetSide 2

PlanetSide 2 was released for Microsoft Windows on November 20, 2012. A port for the PlayStation 4 console was released on June 23, 2015. [13] The game is a re-imagining of the original game, featuring the same factions, setting and story as its prequel.

Cancelled

PlanetSide Next

PlanetSide Next was a version of PlanetSide with updated assets developed by Sony Online Entertainment's SOGA studio for release in Asian markets. [14] The project was cancelled after the studio was shut down.

PlanetSide Arena

PlanetSide Arena was a spin-off of PlanetSide 2 released for early access on Steam for Microsoft Windows on September 19, 2019. [15] The game supported matches with thousands of players and featured game modes including battle royale, capture the flag and team deathmatch. [16] A console port of the game was planned as well. [17] The game's servers were shut down on January 10, 2020 due to low player counts and competition from similar titles like Apex Legends . [18]

Related Research Articles

<i>Wing Commander</i> (franchise) Video game series

Wing Commander is a media franchise consisting of space combat simulation video games from Origin Systems, Inc., an animated television series, a feature film, a collectible card game, a series of novels, and action figures. The franchise originated in 1990 with the release of video game Wing Commander.

<i>PlanetSide</i> (video game) 2003 massively-multiplayer online first-person-shooter video game

PlanetSide was a massively-multiplayer online first-person-shooter video game published by Sony Online Entertainment and released in May 2003.

<i>Mount & Blade</i> 2008 medieval action role-playing game

Mount & Blade is a 2008 medieval strategy action role-playing game for Microsoft Windows, developed by Turkish company TaleWorlds Entertainment, and published by Swedish company Paradox Interactive. In the game, the player controls a customized character to battle, trade, and manage a fief in the medieval land of Calradia. The game was developed by Armağan Yavuz and his wife İpek Yavuz, the founders of TaleWorlds Entertainment. The game was fully released on September 16, 2008, though alpha versions of the game were available prior to the full release.

<i>Urban Assault</i> 1998 video game

Urban Assault is a 3D combined first-person shooter and real-time strategy computer game developed by the German company TerraTools and published by Microsoft in the year 1998.

<i>MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries</i> 2002 video game

Mechwarrior 4: Mercenaries is a vehicle simulation video game for Microsoft Windows, released in 2002. It is a standalone expansion of MechWarrior 4: Vengeance, based on the BattleTechMechWarrior game universe.

<i>Sins of a Solar Empire</i> 2008 video game

Sins of a Solar Empire is a 2008 science fiction real-time strategy video game developed by Ironclad Games and published by Stardock Entertainment for Microsoft Windows operating systems. It is a real-time strategy (RTS) game that incorporates some elements from 4X games; its makers describe it as "RT4X". Players are given control of a spacefaring empire in the distant future, and are tasked with conquering star systems using military, economic and diplomatic means.

<i>Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic</i> Video game series

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR) is a media franchise of space western role-playing video games created and developed by BioWare, which have seen releases on the original Xbox, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, OS X, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, IOS and Android. The franchise takes place in the fictional universe of Star Wars by George Lucas.

<i>Star Wars: Battlefront</i> (2004 video game) 2004 action shooter video game

Star Wars: Battlefront is a 2004 first and third-person shooter video game based on the Star Wars film franchise. Developed by Pandemic Studios and published by LucasArts, it is the first game in the Star Wars: Battlefront series. It was released on September 21, 2004, for PlayStation 2, Xbox and Microsoft Windows to coincide the release of the Star Wars Trilogy DVD set. It is also available for purchase on both the Xbox 360 and Xbox One through their backwards compatibility features. Aspyr released a Mac OS X port in July 2005, and a cellular phone version, Star Wars Battlefront Mobile, was released November 1, 2005. A sequel, Star Wars: Battlefront II, was released on November 1, 2005, for Windows, Xbox, PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable. The game is primarily played as a conquest game, however other modes such as Galactic Conquest bring strategy elements to the title.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First-person shooter</span> Video game genre

A first-person shooter (FPS) is a video game centered on gun fighting and other weapon-based combat seen from a first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action directly through the eyes of the main character. This genre shares multiple common traits with other shooter games, and in turn falls under the action games category. Since the genre's inception, advanced 3D and pseudo-3D graphics have proven fundamental to allow a reasonable level of immersion in the game world, and this type of games helped pushing technology progressively further, challenging hardware developers worldwide to introduce numerous innovations in the field of graphics processing units. Multiplayer gaming has been an integral part of the experience, and became even more prominent with the diffusion of internet connectivity in recent years.

<i>PlanetSide 2</i> 2012 massively multiplayer online first-person shooter game

PlanetSide 2 is a free-to-play massively multiplayer online first-person shooter developed by Rogue Planet Games and published by Daybreak Game Company. The game supports battles with thousands of players and incorporates modern first-person shooter mechanics. Six different infantry classes and over 18 ground and air vehicles are available to players and interact on the battlefield to simulate combined arms warfare. As a re-imagining of PlanetSide, PlanetSide 2 chronicles the efforts of three factions fighting for territorial control of the planet Auraxis.

ForgeLight is a proprietary MMO game engine developed and used by Daybreak Game Company. The engine has been used for Free Realms, Clone Wars Adventures, PlanetSide 2, Landmark, EverQuest Next, H1Z1: Just Survive, H1Z1: King of the Kill. The engine was nominated for the 2013 Game Developers Choice Awards Best Technology award.

A massively multiplayer online first-person shooter (MMOFPS) is an online game which mixes the genres of first-person shooter and massively multiplayer online game. A MMOFPS is a real-time shooter experience where a very large number of players simultaneously interact with one another in a virtual world. These games provide large-scale, sometimes team-based combat.

<i>Escape from Tarkov</i> 2017 multiplayer first-person shooter game

Escape from Tarkov is a multiplayer tactical first-person shooter video game in development by Battlestate Games for Microsoft Windows. The game is set in the fictional Norvinsk region in northwestern Russia, where a war is taking place between two private military companies. Players join matches called "raids" in which they fight other players and bots for loot and aim to survive and escape.

<i>The Surge 2</i> 2019 video game

The Surge 2 is a 2019 action role-playing video game developed by Deck13 Interactive and published by Focus Home Interactive, that is the sequel to The Surge. The game was released for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One on 24 September 2019, while an Amazon Luna version released on 20 October 2020. It received positive reviews from critics.

<i>Warhammer 40,000: Darktide</i> 2022 video game

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide is a first-person action video game set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, developed and published by Fatshark. It is a spiritual successor to the Warhammer: Vermintide series. It was released for Microsoft Windows on 30 November 2022. It also was released for Xbox Series X/S on 4 October 2023.

<i>PlanetSide Arena</i> 2019 video game

PlanetSide Arena was a massively multiplayer online first-person shooter developed by Daybreak Game Company. A spin-off of PlanetSide 2, the game supported over 1,000 players per match and featured match-based capture the flag, team deathmatch, and battle royale game modes.

<i>XDefiant</i> Upcoming video game

XDefiant is a free-to-play first-person shooter video game developed by Ubisoft San Francisco and published by Ubisoft. XDefiant is currently in development and is set to be released on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. On PC, the game will be released exclusively on Ubisoft Connect.

Man vs. Machine was a team-based first-person shooter browser game developed by MuchDifferent. The game was playable only once, and created with the sole purpose of breaking the Guinness World Record for "Most players in an online FPS battle," which it achieved on January 29, 2012 with 999 players. The game was hosted on eight different servers and created with the Unity game engine.

BlackShot is a multiplayer first-person shooter game developed by Vertigo Games. It was initially released in Korea for Microsoft Windows on 15 November 2007. There were initially several different versions of the game for different regions of the world, but it is currently published by Vertigo's subsidiary Papaya Play for the global service.

<i>Silica</i> (video game) 2023 video game

Silica is a 2023 science fiction real-time strategy shooter video game developed by Martin "Dram" Melichárek and published by Bohemia Interactive, released for Microsoft Windows in early access exclusively through the Steam distribution platform. Set in the 24th century on the exoplanet Baltarus, Silica follows a three-sided resource war over Balterium, a valuable mineral capable of power manipulation. The game features a hybrid of shooter gameplay and strategy gameplay, with both modes accessible based on the player's role in their faction.

References

  1. ↑ "E3 2013: PlanetSide 2 Will Look the Part on PlayStation 4". Push Square. 15 June 2013. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
  2. ↑ "Man vs. Machine vs. First-Person Shooter World Record". Game Rant. 31 January 2012. Retrieved 31 March 2022.
  3. ↑ Savage, Phil (26 January 2015). "Planetside 2 breaks world record for most players in an FPS battle". PC Gamer. Retrieved 31 March 2022.
  4. ↑ Neal, Chris (30 March 2020). "PlanetSide 2 enjoys a surge in activity and breaks its own Guinness World Record". Massively Overpowered. Archived from the original on 6 September 2021. Retrieved 31 March 2022.
  5. ↑ Brown, Joey (6 November 2022). "PlanetSide 2 Smashes World Record for Most Players in An FPS Battle". Game Rant. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
  6. ↑ "PlanetSide 2 Empire Debrief - The Terran Republic". PlanetSide 2. 25 October 2011. Archived from the original on 31 March 2022. Retrieved 31 March 2022.
  7. 1 2 3 "PlanetSide 2: Factions Trailer". IGN on YouTube. Archived from the original on 22 March 2022. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
  8. ↑ "PlanetSide 2 Empire Brief - New Conglomerate". PlanetSide 2. 7 November 2011. Archived from the original on 31 March 2022. Retrieved 31 March 2022.
  9. ↑ "Incoming: Nanite Systems Operatives Now Available". PlanetSide 2. 25 April 2019. Archived from the original on 21 February 2022. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
  10. ↑ Fraser, Brown (21 November 2018). "Planetside 2's new faction lets you play as a robot mercenary who will fight for anyone". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on 21 February 2022. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
  11. ↑ Sykes, Tom (25 January 2014). "SOE revise All Access Pass, Planetside 1 is going free-to-play this April". PC Gamer UK . Future plc . Retrieved 25 January 2014.
  12. ↑ "PlanetSide shutting down July 1 after 13 years of service". PCGamesN. 17 August 2017. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
  13. ↑ "PlanetSide 2 PS4 Release Date Revealed". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 12 April 2022. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
  14. ↑ "Interview with Matt Higby - Original Creative Director for Planetside 2". YouTube . Retrieved 20 January 2023.
  15. ↑ December 2019, Vikki Blake 14 (14 December 2019). "Just 3 months after it launched in Early Access, PlanetSide Arena is closing down". Gamesradar. Retrieved 7 September 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  16. ↑ Kain, Erik. "Everything You Need To Know About 'Planetside Arena'". Forbes. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
  17. ↑ Palumbo, Alessio (13 September 2019). "PlanetSide Arena Interview - Devs on What Makes It Unique, Adding Story Progression & Third Person; Cross-Play Planned". Wccftech. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
  18. ↑ "PlanetSide Arena is Dead: Prepare For PlanetSide 3". ScreenRant. 13 November 2019. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.