Daybreak Announces PlanetSide Arena, Heavy On The Battle Royale (For Now), And It's Not F2P (For Now)

Daybreak Game Company's new game is PlanetSide Arena after all, and it is a battle royale -- at least for now.

PlanetSide Arena features three game modes: Massive Clash, a 250v250 battle, and Solo and Team Battle Royale modes. New, non-BR modes, such as capture the flag and deathmatch, will be added in the future. Players will choose from one of three classes -- assault, engineer, and medic -- each with a jetpack, personal vehicle, and special abilities. You can upgrade weapons and abilities at various terminals throughout the world using in-game currency. Out of game, you can also upgrade your weapon blueprints and progress through seasonal story arcs that take place several decades after the current PlanetSide 2 game and "bridge[s] that past, present, and future of PlanetSide."

The most relevant fact for this site, however, is that PlanetSide Arena won't be free-to-play. Two versions are currently up for sale on Steam: the Sanctuary Assault Edition for $19.99 and the Legendary Edition for $39.99. Each pre-order package grants you access to the closed beta and includes the Season 1 Battle Pass. The Sanctuary Edition also gives you the assault class armor, while the Legendary Edition includes armor for all three classes, as well as the M-20 Tempest Hoverbike pack. The game is scheduled to launch on Jan. 29, 2019.

To say we're skeptical of PlanetSide Arena's prospects would be an understatement. It's 1) a take on an existing game; 2) primarily a battle royale, though other modes are promised at some point in the future; and 3) not free-to-play. None of those exactly engender excitement among us at MMOBomb, and we're betting our audience feels pretty much the same way. Point #3 could (will?) change at some point in the future, but until that happens, we won't be covering it again on this site. We'll leave it to you to determine if that's a good or a bad thing.