Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis Coming 2021, Will Update Game System And Graphics

If you're still acclimating to Phantasy Star Online 2, get ready for a whole new experience next year. Sega has just announced Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis, releasing globally in 2021, which is ... well we're not exactly sure what it is.

There's not much to go on besides the flashy trailer embedded below, which certainly does look much shinier than what we can currently see in PSO2. The teaser site also doesn't have any info beyond the trailer, though the description of the video on its YouTube page offers this:

Celebrating PSO’s 20th anniversary, PSO2: NGS is the latest entry in the series, updating PSO2’s game system and graphics engine. We’re planning to release this update on a global scale, including Japan and North America.

It sounds to me like Neo Genesis is an updated version of the game, meant to look more modern -- which is something PSO2 certainly needs, especially with a new generation of consoles just about to hit the market. You could wonder a little bit about the "latest entry" part of the description and think that means an entirely new game, but I think that's just a "lost in translation" error, and besides, Sega wouldn't put out a totally new game after just launching the current one, right?

At the end of the video, you'll see that the launch is apparently scheduled for Microsoft Azure (akin to the Microsoft Store), Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and Windows 10. That last one might be a reference to the planned launch on non-Windows Store PC platforms, which is going to be the only option for players who were fed up with the Microsoft Store's handling of things.