PlanetSide Arena delayed again, now to summer

Daybreak Game Company have delayed the launch of PlanetSide Arena for the second time since announcing it in December, doing sterling work to counter the unrealistic expectations of air travel efficiency fostered by other battle royale games. No, you don't queue for a plane for twenty seconds, take off on time, then land exactly where you want. You will, in reality, wait indefinitely to even see a plane, with each short-notice delay making you wonder more if you'll ever even get anywhere. Thank you, Daybreak, for delaying PlanetSide's battle royale spin-off until this summer and, in doing so, teaching kids that the real-world answer to "Where we dropping?" is "700 miles away from your luggage."

The PC version of PlanetSide Arena is now due to launch alongside its PlayStation 4 sibling some time this summer, the developers announced on Friday. So somewhere from June through September, depending on whether Daybreak following a heretical calendar or not.

This is the second delay. When Daybreak announced PlanetSide Arena in December 2018, they planned to launch it on January 29th. Five days before launch, they announced a delay to March 26th, saying the extra development time would do it good. That is a good reason to delay a game. And that's why they've delayed it again.

"We've always envisioned PlanetSide Arena as a way for players to experience the epic gameplay of the PlanetSide universe, through fast-paced, combined arms combat and massive-scale multiplayer modes," they explained. "We believe that delivering the most polished version of PlanetSide Arena that meets these expectations, on both platforms, outweighs any other consideration."

They say they want to "hone in on" massive modes too. They're vague on whether this is any change from previous plans, which included the usual 100-player murderfest, a 250v250 mode, and possibly 500v500.

The game has gone through a few weeks of closed beta testing with public players, and Daybreak seem mighty grateful for that. Thanking players for their help, they added that "Your suggestions have been crucial in providing our team with direct and meaningful gameplay feedback."

For people who pre-ordered (while price tags are rare in the genre, it will cost £20), Daybreak say they're refunding all Steam pre-orders. It is actually standard Steam policy to allow refunds on pre-orders but, y'know, Daybreak want to stress it.

In the meantime, you can read Brendan's impressions from when he saw (but did not play) PlanetSide Arena.

The delay may also help Daybreak by giving time for buzz to fade from Apex Legends, the Titanfall spin-off which recently arrived on the battle royale scene out of nowhere to become the new hotness. At the very least, the delay gives us time to come up with a good nickname for Apex and then PlanetSide Arena. While I will admit I did come up with 'Tit Royale', it was in the RPS treehouse and I did not expect Alec to use it publicly. I don't like the 'Apelegs' I'm hearing whispered around the treehouse either. Crass and twee, the two extremes of video games.