The topic seems self-explanatory.

I think Planetside 2 would be a billion dollar profit generating title (over time, of course) given the current trends in gaming.

Hear me out before hating.

While the original Planetside was infested with bugs, imbalance, and programming flaws, let's also consider the time period in which it came out. Computers weren't nearly as powerful then, internet connectivity wasn't as fast or as stable, graphics cards and mother boards were most certainly not able to handle the payload they can handle now. Online games were also extremely uncommon in terms of the MMO scale, which, love it or hate it, World of Warcraft has helped grow to magnanimous proportions. 

However, people are getting tired of the standard "Elf, dwarf, human; sword and board, staff, dagger" set up. It is demonstrated by the incredible failure of retention by nearly all MMORPG's that come out these days; even the mighty monopoly that is WoW is starting to lose subscriptions. On the contrary, let's consider what has become mightily popular; first-person shooters. Call of Duty, Battlefield, Gears of Wars, Halo; these titles have rabid fanbases that drool at the thought of word "Kill" and phrases like "K/D R". Team Fortress 2 and old-school Counterstrike demonstrate how much people love being able to upgrade their weapons, character, etc. League of Legends demonstrates how much people like theorycrafting different builds, and battling online against other people.

So, in my mind, this is where Planetside 2 becomes the unparalleled cashcow of tomorrow.

For those of you who played the original, tell me you didn't have great fun in the game. Who remembers the days of the mighty MAX crash at the backdoor of a base? Who loved the air strikes where you dropped from the skies, with well-coordinated air-cover from Reavers and Mosquitoes? Do you remember the open-field basilisk + lightning duels? The Prowler vs. Vanguard armored platoons? How about the notorious-yet-hated Mag-Mower? And what of the stealth captures in a  room guarded by 9 MAX's and 300 infantry? I certainly do remember those days, and they were jolly good times.

Imagine now, if you will, what could be done with that game's premise with TODAY'S technology? You could capitalize on the desire to engage in intense FPS style combat, while appealing to the RPG elment of character development via level-gaining, all while solving the "I'm bored of the normal MMO scene" dilemma at once. You'd have up to 5 million new players who weren't around during the original's launch who were looking for something fresh to play, coupled with the new die-hard market for FPS shooters and competitive gameplay. All the while, you'd have people who wanted to create competitive outfits/guilds to compete amongst one another online.

Does anyone agree with this?

I disagree on the grounds that it is too Sci-Fi. I think a military type shooter with more realistic weapons, armor, and vehicles would do much better than a Halo-type shooter. Unfortunately, with tech still being rather underwhelming, I don't think we'll see a really blockbuster MMOFPS title for at least another 5 or more years. I think an MMOFPS is more likely than an MMORPG to appeal to a majority of gamers, but only if there is absolutely no monthly subsription or Micro Transaction-style system and the tech exists for thousands of gamers to play on consoles, with no lag issues, all at the same time.

I'm guessing Battlefield or Modern Warfare will take us there when the time comes. I'm just not confident this will be anytime soon. Which is a shame, because this is what I've been looking forward to since I started playing Online shooters 10-15 years ago.

Modern Warfare will never lead the way in teamplay games, ever.

That franchise has single-handedly dismantled the concept of teamwork in exchange for rambo mechanics, kill streaks, and spray and pray.

Originally posted by Cymdai

Modern Warfare will never lead the way in teamplay games, ever.

 

That franchise has single-handedly dismantled the concept of teamwork in exchange for rambo mechanics, kill streaks, and spray and pray.

It kind of plays like Quake Deathmatch from 1996. 

I moved onto, I progressed to, CTF way back in 1997, why would I want to go back to Deathmatch?

I dont disagree, and im actually for this.  but i must raise a couple of concerns:

1. Technology:  even of the days of Planetside , and WWIIONLINE , technology let alone the internet had to fight tooth and nail when at come to latency/lag. not to mention the other tooth and nail battle when PC's are involved and how every rig is more or less different from the other compared to a streamline console with all using the same specs,  Yes  we have progressed greatly and VASTLY since the past several years. we even got browser games that would put certain console games to shame fun wise-- in rare cases visual wise too.  the Thing is, with all these advancements, and with SOE's forgelight looking to lead the way.  I raise concern that SOE and the dev team could very well be drunk from all the new tech they can use to make the game very beautiful (see the friggin screenshots)  and unfortunate have the frame rate and latency performance of a Amiga.  I greatly hope they find a even ground and keep to their word that Gameplay/ Performance will be priority over Graphics--and if need be by a large margin.

2. Marketing:  My god this has been more and more the element that either gives a game life or kills it off at birth, and i dont mean if their is a lack thereof  or too much of marketing. but the RIGHT kind of marketing where the PR team does their job by giving accurate, sensible information without pigeonholing or castrateting the dev team by saying these tired old words:

"THIS IS THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST OF THE DAY OF OMEGA TO END ALL WOW KILLERS!"

this mind you is a exaggeration, but for a more direct example being for the PR group to promise the moon to the point the dev team cannot humanly deliver, thus killing all that hard work, blood ,sweat and tears overnight. in reality, there will be some things the team can do, and the team cannot do. my only hope is to be informative enough to keep the community in the loop as far as whats being done with the game and what to expect.

3. Innovation:   This word perhaps needs to shrivel up in a corner and die a slow, slow slow death and be forgotten, and THEN have a dog come in and take a large turd over its corpse to complete its existance; might i add potential would come as a close second imo.

Innovation is something were all looking for, on the dev teams behalf, again, i hope they use reasonable judgement and not be obsessed with the word, let alone speak of it. same goes with the PR team...and @#$#ing Smedelonius!! (smedly)

the consumers will be clamoring for it, but to be honest, Planetside, and of course Planetside 2, already has much of that right in front of them when it comes to simply being different:

1. mmofps with large scale battles,   there are other games that tout it but are few far and inbetween, not to mention lacking a large company to back them both financially and commerically (HI MARSWAR!! tell your little punk brother HUXLEY i said hello)

2. noobs having the potential to kill leveled out players.  this aspect was another gem in planetsides pocket. a fresh noob with nothing more than a supressor can be just as deadline as a jackhammering NC hobo depending on the enviornments and situation.

3. changing between classes/professions on the fly and even mid combat: first PS had this,  PS2 will have it too despite it being more steamlined (speculating)

4. persistant mayhem: call it a weak arguement, but when your playing a deathmatch game or a themepark game for x amount of times or years..a nice big continent with explosions as far as the eye can see on any other day is a welcomed changed.

And im going so far off topic its shameful, my bad.

IF anything, people are still underestimating the FPS playerbase believe it or not,  and those people are the typical traditional tab-targeting mmo players. there is always some hate about PS2 going free to play, and yes that is dangerous but it can be done right without the element of pay to win (bigger gun, more bullets etc.).  

FPS community will come, but for them to come, they have to follow a new set a rules, and a dice roll with +5 purple armor aint gonna cut it.

Originally posted by Beanpuie

3. changing between classes/professions on the fly and even mid combat: first PS had this,  PS2 will have it too despite it being more steamlined (speculating)

Wow "streamlined" literally does mean dumbed down, I'm a believer!

Let me translate that into english.

3. changing between classes/professions on the fly and even mid combat: first PS had this,  PS2 will have it too despite it being more dumbed down (speculating)

I agree with the OPs points.

The one difference is the the FPS games mentioned are console based so any 12 year old can jump in and play. This isn't the case for PC gaming, especially when its likely that PS2 will have high system requirements.

A lot of people in the MMO community want something different that is fun which is exactly what planetside offers. Its got just enough twitch mechanics to make it skill based and competitive even for noobs, but also has a good deal of rpg character development for people who like making builds and levelling up. It also has 0 grind so you are in the thick of the action right away. The game doesn't begin at the cap and there is no gear grind which is unheard of in this day and age.

For me PS1 was basically the perfect online game. It unfortunately became stagnant due to lack of development and its repetative nature (i.e. every base being pretty much the same). This time around there seems to be a lot more customization which is awesome.

If SOE manages to keep the good things from the first game it could have a major hit on its hands.

I very much like your arguments OP. I never did get to play the first planetside, but I am very looking forward to Planetside 2 after hearing the war stories. Planetside sounded to me like every Battlefield and MMO nut's dream come true, with open world persistance, first person heated action, long seiges that you love to fight in because of the rewards you get for fighting, the customization of your character and vehicles, and the command structure. Planetside's flaws will be easily overcome in Planetside 2, since lag is no longer an issue with big games, subscription fees are now the norm/F2P is a very real way to make tons of money without taxing the players, and there is a giant fanbase of FPS and MMO players.

But heres where it starts to get edgy.

First person shooter games originated on the PC, with little graphics requirements needed to power said games/if you owned a PC, you could play it at the time. However, now with today's modern games, even wtih all of the resource management/optimization done to videogames to make them as shiny as possible while not taxing a system too much, such processes are more redily done on something such as a console like the PS3 or the Xbox. Both are very capable of processing amazing graphics without having to upgrade the console. PCs are just too expensive to purchase all of the parts for it to run the amazing games properly/without too much lag. An 800$ Gaming rig could easily run any game you throw at it, but why shell out 800 smacks when you can shell out only 200-300$ and buy something that does exactly what you want it to with little to no problems: Play videogames, and process them well enough to make it super fancy. I do agree that the FPS crowd has exploded over the years, because even the simplist of explosions make some kids go apeshit. But most of the big title FPS games have been on the consoles, not the PCs. Sure, you have some of the classics like Battlefield, Unreal Tournament and Quake that still have a cult following on the PC, with Battlefield 3 still highly anticipated by the PC crowd, but the titles people know the most are games such as Gears of War, Halo, and Call of Duty.

The MMO genre, on the other hand, has always been dominant on the PC, with PCs being the norm for any form of MMO, and console MMOs just getting thrown out the window, never to be seen or heard from again. MMOs will most likely always be for the PC, as the PC does a much better job of letting you do the insane levels of coordination/socializing that typically occurs in MMOs, as well as the internet connection provided with a PC is superior to the Xbox and PS3. Latency issues on a PC are less frequent for those who acctually have broadband/DSL, because unless you have your console hard wired into the internet via router, then the wifi causes all sorts of lag issues, some of which can make some MMOs unplayable all together. The MMO genre is much more readily done on a PC.

So, here comes the acctual problem. How do you draw the crowd of FPS gamers from consoles to the PC to play this game, or how do you fix the problems caused by consoles for MMOs? Having an MMO on a console not only causes different issues with playability/communication, you couldn't do a cross-platform game, as the PC crowd would have a bigger advantage over the console crowd with bettter communication/hackers could easily outdo the console gamers, and trying to draw the FPS crowd to the PC is like saying "Its free! Oh yeah and your going to need an 800 dollar computer to play this." It just doesn't work. What would be a solution fo this problem?

TL;DR: How do you bridge the gap between FPS gamers who are all on console, and MMO players who are all on PC? How do you draw MMO gamers to a console, or how do you convince FPS gamers that the game is worth getting a good PC to play it?

Unless they have plans to release Planetside 2 on a console or two, the game has next to no chance of succeding. With console being as cheap as they are compared to an average computer now a days I don't see PS2 being all to big a hit.

Originally posted by Snaylor47

Unless they have plans to release Planetside 2 on a console or two, the game has next to no chance of succeding. With console being as cheap as they are compared to an average computer now a days I don't see PS2 being all to big a hit.

No, I do see Planetside 2 being a hit, theres still a big cult following of FPS gamers on the PC, i'm just curious as to how the hell they are going to bridge the gap between consoles and PCs, since the MAJORITY, not all, of FPS gamers are on the console.

I totally agree with the OP 

it will be a cash cow and will be a breath of fresh air to my gaming habits

the rinse and repeat wow style of game play is utterly dead and despite people shouting it is not, and vast amount of cookie cutter tripe clones that seem to be based on this formula continuously coming out and falling on their face, it is clear their days are numbered

one example i quote is if teh new warhammer game came out with the game play of planetside then it would be a worldwide hit, however they went for something generic and cookie cutter and i know it will be another flop after the initial beach head of interest

I played the original planetside and know the intense and emotional game play from such epic battles with a little bit of skill thrown in, what turned most people off planetside was teh sheer scale of it and a bit of a learning curve, even seasoned fps shooter players would say what on earth is going on, this is something they need to tackle with some nice tutorials not like the original shooting range, something that explains what is going on and why

however OP chap, i agree this game could be vastly successful, my dream to make it even better would be to have a different take and add in naval battle in space pull in some flyboys if they dont like the fps and combine the two war efforts two games in one (this is my daydream but would be awesome)

Originally posted by Triadninja

Originally posted by Snaylor47

Unless they have plans to release Planetside 2 on a console or two, the game has next to no chance of succeding. With console being as cheap as they are compared to an average computer now a days I don't see PS2 being all to big a hit.

No, I do see Planetside 2 being a hit, theres still a big cult following of FPS gamers on the PC, i'm just curious as to how the hell they are going to bridge the gap between consoles and PCs, since the MAJORITY, not all, of FPS gamers are on the console.

How exactly do you maneuver around in a FPS with a console controller that only has buttons and no mouse?

Yeah there's been no mention of console development.  For one thing its a custom engine that they've developed specifically for mmo's (Planetside 2 and Everquest Next).  For another Planetside just isn't something that lends itself to console play because its not just a fps ... its a fps sandbox mmo.  There's just no way a controller is adequate for all of the non combat activities you'll need it for in game.

Time to go vote up Planetside 2 for "Most Anticipated MMO". Help PS2 get the recognition it deserves!! :DD

http://bit.ly/sJGcqt

Originally posted by Snaylor47

Unless they have plans to release Planetside 2 on a console or two, the game has next to no chance of succeding. With console being as cheap as they are compared to an average computer now a days I don't see PS2 being all to big a hit.

None of the current generation consoles have enough memory or power to come close to running a game that is supposed to be the scale that will be Planetside 2. Perhaps with the next gen of consoles in development we'll see something diffrent, but time will tell. 

It's interesting that the FPS market has so strongly moved towards consoles, but that trend began rather recently with the original Halo, Halo 2 and it's multiplayer. Until then all the best shooters were PC because mice are meant for the FPS genre. 

Planetside 2 will be massively successful because it will be a free to play game, so it won't suffer from population problems and the development team seems to really be on top of things. If anything goes wrong it will be the top people at SOE trying to rush it out post-haste.

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Originally posted by Triadninja

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Originally posted by Snaylor47
Unless they have plans to release Planetside 2 on a console or two, the game has next to no chance of succeding. With console being as cheap as they are compared to an average computer now a days I don't see PS2 being all to big a hit.

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No, I do see Planetside 2 being a hit, theres still a big cult following of FPS gamers on the PC, i'm just curious as to how the hell they are going to bridge the gap between consoles and PCs, since the MAJORITY, not all, of FPS gamers are on the console.

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majorty yes, but its still a fair slit.

BF3 STATS:

Global stats

PC online
29 658
PS3 online
32 299
360 online
24 207

I think those are pretty good numbers for the PC.

Console gaming needs to die anyway -- if someone wants to develop an open gaming platform that's compatible with PC gaming, then power to them, but to divide the playerbase between multiple incompatible systems just so several companies can have their own product?  No thanks

Shooters, especially in their single player campaigns, try really hard to simulate being part of a larger more epic war. They have all kinds of scripted events to give the illusion that an epic battle is raging around you. One of the things that made Planetside great is that you REALLY WERE part of a larger war. It's sounding like Planetside 2 might likely support even larger numbers of players, and they are designing the maps with 8 years of experience from the original game. This game has as much potential as any game being made to be the "next big thing".