Rough Estimate on Release Date?

[Dov]

This is my first post here and I don't mean to stir a hornet's nest of flame for asking questions which have no concrete answers, but...

for those who've been watching video games come and go over the years or have an inkling into how long the life cycle usually takes: what can we expect.

I'm asking -- by drawing from some of your guys past knowledge (whether in the industry or not) what do you think we can expect in terms of a release date based on where the game is now?

I played PS in beta but forgot how long it was in that phase till the game went live. Anyone remember?

I'm hoping by getting ya'lls feedback we can sort of put together our own rough timeline based on mean answers (okay, I'm an engineer by actual trade).

Lastly, what up forums! I've swooped on here from time to time for my PS2 updates but I can't just be on the sidelines any longer. Time to reactivate my account...

Dov

[SavageB]

My friends and I predict end of 2012, or Q1 2013 but im leaning more on late 2012. Depends on what kinda info we get within the next few months, more gameplay trailers etc. I m hopin the game will come out asap but at the sametime cant rush these guys and have unbalanced and buggy game. I would rather wait longer and have a well polished balanced game.

[Entertain Me]

I would say sooner than we think. The trailer showed actual gameplay which means the game is quite far along already. However, I still think it's going to be at least a year and a half. Planetside 1 had two years between its reveal and its launch. Either way, there are plenty of other good games to keep us busy while we wait.

[Surge72]

My guess is Q1 or Q2 of 2012.

[Sovereign]

The end times 2012!!!!11

Zomgz we'll have like a day to playz it, oh noez!

[cashfoyogash]

The end times 2012!!!!11

Zomgz we'll have like a day to playz it, oh noez!

PS2 release date 12-11-2012... coincidence i think not...

[Bags]

I believe the closed beta would be out before the end of 2011.

Yeah, I'll be really surprised if some form of beta isn't out by the end of the year, since Higby said they are much further ahead internally than the trailer shows.

[Goku]

No way this game will be released later this year as BF3 and MW3 will be out. Good luck gaining any major player base with the majority of the FPS players being enthralled with those games. If SOE wants to aim for a 2012 release I would not be shocked to see it late second quarter or early third quarter. Any later you will be putting up with the next CoD game over shadowing any other FPS. Depending on closed beta I would hope they would do that at least for 6 months and at the current rate closed beta probably will not be here till at least the fall time.

[Snow]

Maybe we should have a competition?

Whoever guesses the exact day of release wins a cookie.

[WarChimp130]

I'm leaning towards early 2nd quarter 2012 for actual release. Though as you can tell from the responses, who the hell knows. A few things I'm guessing are in it's favor for release within a year are the fact it's available for pre-order on several sites, the level of polish in the gameplay for the trailer, and the fact that it's a sequel which may make it easier for them to test as opposed to a brand new concept. A lot of the idea work and such is already their.

I'm hoping for earlier but like people said, I don't want a rushed final product. It really depends on how much they have already done internally. They may have an almost ready to go game for the most part and just need to work to pop it out to see how it performs large scale. Also it depends on how much of what they have planned is at release and how much comes as part of the 3 year plan.

So short answer - it's anybodies guess right now.

[Death2All]

Later Q3/Early Q4 Beta

Q2 Release of full game


That's my best approximation based on the information we've been given thus far.

[cashfoyogash]

No way this game will be released later this year as BF3 and MW3 will be out. Good luck gaining any major player base with the majority of the FPS players being enthralled with those games. If SOE wants to aim for a 2012 release I would not be shocked to see it late second quarter or early third quarter. Any later you will be putting up with the next CoD game over shadowing any other FPS. Depending on closed beta I would hope they would do that at least for 6 months and at the current rate closed beta probably will not be here till at least the fall time.

Those are platform FPS games first off, they have their own player base really. Second it would be easier to compete with a COD or BF3 game compared to a largely successful DUST 514 which is suppose to be released Q2 of next year. Regardless I wouldnt expect PS2 till late next year.

[Goku]

Well PS2 is taking modern day FPS mechanics to fit into the original to appeal to more FPS players. With that SOE is wanting to attract CoD and BF players. Did you see how many times Smed mentioned BF? Besides this games needs attention when it is released and will only fly under the radar with those two FPS games being released. BF3 and MW3 likely will be the biggest releases this year for gaming for FPS games anyway. I doubt SOE is worried about Dust 514 as that is only on the PS3 not PC.

@ Duke

I wasn't talking about Beta being an issue for getting players, but when the game is actually released on shelfs. It would be suicide to go about against the two biggest names in the FPS industry and when you have the new star wars MMO coming out too. Remember that boycott for MW2 on PC due the lack of dedicated servers? We saw how that turned out. People are still going to flock to MW3 like the past 9000 cod games released over the years.

[WarChimp130]

I don't think they should worry about any BF, MW or other CoD titles or whatever. There is always one of those games coming out, they release them like 3 times a freakin' week, it feels like they should be up to CoD 37 by now for christs sake. If they release a strong game that challenges those and it's bad ass, then those other games should be the ones worried, now PS2. PS2 if they do it right might completely change the way people think about FPS games.

[Bags]

While they certainly shouldn't intentionally release it the same time a COD or BF comes out, you can't really avoid releasing it when one of those comes out, as they release as often as Mario Party did.

[Goku]

I don't think they should worry about any BF, MW or other CoD titles or whatever. There is always one of those games coming out, they release them like 3 times a freakin' week, it feels like they should be up to CoD 37 by now for christs sake. If they release a strong game that challenges those and it's bad ass, then those other games should be the ones worried, now PS2. PS2 if they do it right might completely change the way people think about FPS games.

Still all those games will be in the headlines and PS2 will not be. BF3 and MW3 has way larger player base, so that is more hits for gaming sites to get more clicks on their site. There is gaps between when the CoD games are released too, at least BF doesn't do a yearly rehash lol. First half of 2012 would be perfect in my opinion and lots of people think that is when it may come. The BF3 and MW3 hype will have gone down significantly and people will likely be willing to try new games by that point. That is a win win for PS2.

[Timey]

I would be willing to place a bet had I the money that there will be a beta of some kind before the year changes.

[WarChimp130]

While I agree they will get headlines, I think PS2 will be making a push for some headlines also. I have a feeling SOE is going to put a lot of eggs in this basket. As a company they have been stumbling repeatedly and they need a home run. Combine the grass roots level campaign and word of mouth advertising I'm sure we're all going to embark on, with what I believe will be a really solid advertising push by SOE, followed with the buzz that will be swelling up in both the MMO and FPS worlds and you've got a perfect storm of hype.

If SOE does this right, they can knock this one out of the park and they won't have to worry about any other games.

[cashfoyogash]

Er first half of 2012 is when DUST 514 will be released Goku... Im not sure if people have heard about this game but it is going to be ground breaking.. not only that it ties in with the EVE universe directly and we all know how many people play ever over 300,000... Those 300,000 people are not going to let rival factions conquer their planets... PS2 should not release when Dust releases... i mean its a cross platform FPS game that will also have massive battles, but still not in comparison to PS2 but im for sure buying DUST 514 I know that. Plus there is a new halo game coming out sometime in the future.

[Crazyduckling]

I wouldn't be surprised to see beta by the end of this year. Holiday season is usually big, so that could work in our favor for a faster release.

I'm guessing the game won't be released any later than May 20, 2012.

[Goku]

Dust is a PS3 title with 32 vs 32 battles that is linked to EVE on PC. PS2 is a PC game with hundreds of players from 3 factions fighting each other. I do not see any link between them. If SOE was releasing this on PS3 at the same time I would be slightly worried due Eve's reputation. Dust battles are tiny compared to PS2 if you really want to go to into the MMO realm. The reason I am worried about BF3 and MW3 is due those also being on the PC. I never seen anyone worry about a PC exclusive competing with a PS3 exclusive.

[bjorntju1]

Beta in Q4 2011. If we are lucky we will also see the full game in Q4, but i am not really sure about that. So i think the full game will come out somewhere in Q1 2012. And the beta in late Q3, early Q4.

[WarChimp130]

Dust is a PS3 title with 32 vs 32 battles that is linked to EVE on PC. PS2 is a PC game with hundreds of players from 3 factions fighting each other. I do not see any link between them. If SOE was releasing this on PS3 at the same time I would be slightly worried due Eve's reputation. Dust battles are tiny compared to PS2 if you really want to go to into the MMO realm. The reason I am worried about BF3 and MW3 is due those also being on the PC. I never seen anyone worry about a PC exclusive competing with a PS3 exclusive.

I will say that with BF3 coming out, it's been tough for me to sell PS2 to my TF2 clan that I run. I've got one guy pretty interested, the rest not so much. I think as more gameplay video's come out though I can make them see the light.

[Goku]

WarChimp tell them there is cash shop for buying funky hats and they will preorder in a heart beat. Of course PS2 could come out with trailers as you mention and leave us all dumb founded, with that you can convince others to go the PS2 route. Does your clan have a BC2 division to it?

[Bags]

Yeah, show 'em a picture of your BR25 wearing a hat and shades.

[WarChimp130]

WarChimp tell them there is cash shop for buying funky hats and they will preorder in a heart beat. Of course PS2 could come out with trailers as you mention and leave us all dumb founded, with that you can convince others to go the PS2 route. Does your clan have a BC2 division to it?


Not really, for now it's still mainly a TF2 clan but several people are considering jumping to BF3 when that comes out. I'm hoping to get some to make a jump to PS2, even if not directly with me.

[Tigersmith]

If i would have to guess

Beta would start late Q4 and game will launch Q2

[Heaven]

18th May 2012

[dachlatte]

release date: when its done

[DreaM]

If i would have to guess

Beta would start late Q4 and game will launch Q2

This is basically what I'm going for aswell. They're a year and a half into development already. Q4 this year would put them roughly at 2 years into their development time and in the general region for late alpha / early beta testing phase. The public testing will be roughly 6 months long (this is approximately industry standard) then with a release Q2-Q3 of 2012, putting them a 2 1/2 years maybe 3.

[Dov]

This is basically what I'm going for aswell. They're a year and a half into development already. Q4 this year would put them roughly at 2 years into their development time and in the general region for late alpha / early beta testing phase. The public testing will be roughly 6 months long (this is approximately industry standard) then with a release Q2-Q3 of 2012, putting them a 2 1/2 years maybe 3.

/agreed.

I think since they don't seem to be advertising any new graphics engine, beta in Q4 '11/Q1 '12 would make sense. From compiling what most of you guys think, mid summer 2012 release 'should' follow.

Plus: from a marketing point of view A LOT of gamers are going to be out of highschool and university with some free time on their hands -- why not pick up that sick new game.

[headcrab13]

PCGamer: I’ll go out on a limb and say beta late 2011, release mid-2012. Smedley refused to be specific, but told me, “it’s not coming out soon, but it’s coming sooner than you think.”

http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/07/08/planetside-2-what-we-know-so-far/

-HC13

[Bruttal]

12-7-2011

[nathanebht]

This is basically what I'm going for aswell. They're a year and a half into development already. Q4 this year would put them roughly at 2 years into their development time and in the general region for late alpha / early beta testing phase. The public testing will be roughly 6 months long (this is approximately industry standard) then with a release Q2-Q3 of 2012, putting them a 2 1/2 years maybe 3.

Missed that they're 1.5 years into development. Wonder when they started Forge Light development.

I'll estimate beta in Nov. 2011, release in May 2012.

[Baneblade]

I estimate sometime during the 21st century.