SEGA Officially Announces Western Release of PSO2 in 2013

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SEGA Officially Announces Western Release of PSO2 in 2013

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SEGA Officially Announces Western Release of PSO2 in 2013

PSO2

By Tomeeboy at 07/08/2012 - 10:56pm

Today, SEGA will officially announce that they will be bringing Phantasy Star Online 2 to North America and Europe, with a release date in early 2013. In addition, the official teaser site should be going live at www.pso2.com sometime this morning. Our friends at SEGA were kind enough to give us a heads up on this great news, and PSO-World is proud to be the first site to share it with the Phantasy Star community. Here is a copy of the official press release, check it out:

SEGA ANNOUNCES THE WESTERN RELEASE OF PHANTASY STAR ONLINE 2 SEGA’s Epic Free-to-Play Multiplayer Action RPG Coming to North America and Europe in Early 2013

SAN FRANCISCO & LONDON – July 9th, 2012 – SEGA® of America, Inc. and SEGA® Europe Ltd today announced that free-to-play multiplayer action RPG Phantasy Star Online 2 will be coming to North America and Europe in 2013. For a first look at this new entry in the legendary Phantasy Star series, check out the official Phantasy Star Online 2 teaser site at www.pso2.com.

“Phantasy Star Online was a revolutionary game when it was released, and we want to make sure that its successor in the series is every bit as ambitious,” said Chris Olson, Vice President of Digital Business at SEGA of America. “We look forward to introducing Phantasy Star Online 2’s unique, easy-to-access multiplayer action to the rest of the world next year!”

“The number one thing we want to provide players in Phantasy Star Online 2 is an adventure that changes every time they log in. Just as great table-top RPG experiences revolve around imaginative and unexpected encounters, we want players to consistently be surprised as they explore dungeons and undertake quests,” added Satoshi Sakai, Phantasy Star Online 2 Producer at SEGA of Japan.

Over ten years have passed since the release of the boundary-breaking Dreamcast hit, Phantasy Star Online, and SEGA is poised to continue the Phantasy Star series’ multiplayer legacy on PCs worldwide with Phantasy Star Online 2. In the Year 238, the New Era of Light, players will join a new band of Arcs in the fight against mysterious D-Arkers, embarking on another epic adventure of infinite possibilities!

Phantasy Star Online 2’s features include:

Deep sci-fi fantasy universe filled with lush landscapes, extraordinary creatures, and epic adventures
Revolutionary real-time combat and third-person action with devastating combos and counters to master
Flexible, class-based leveling system that lets players define their own play-style with distinctive melee, ranged, and magic weapon types
Randomized dungeon maps and unexpected mid-quest encounters that ensure each quest is different for each player
Deep character creation system with a nearly limitless number of potential appearances
Three degrees of humanity to experience across three unique races: the versatile Humans, spiritually-powered Newmen, and artificial CAST

For more information about Phantasy Star Online 2, visit the official site at www.pso2.com.

For more news, follow SEGA on Twitter @SEGA (http://twitter.com/phantasystar) or “like” us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/sega.pso2).

About SEGA® of America, Inc. SEGA® of America, Inc. is the American arm of Tokyo, Japan-based SEGA® Corporation, a worldwide leader in interactive entertainment both inside and outside the home. The company develops, publishes and distributes interactive entertainment software products for a variety of hardware platforms including PC, wireless devices, and those manufactured by Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony Computer Entertainment. SEGA® of America’s Web site is located at www.sega.com.

About SEGA® Europe Ltd. SEGA® Europe Ltd. is the European Distribution arm of Tokyo, Japan-based SEGA® Corporation, and a worldwide leader in interactive entertainment both inside and outside the home. The company develops and distributes interactive entertainment software products for a variety of hardware platforms including PC, wireless devices, and those manufactured by Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. SEGA’s global website site is located at www.sega.com.

The official teaser trailer for PSO2's western launch will also be going live sometime Monday morning via YouTube: Official PSO2 Announcement Trailer. Be sure to check it out once the video has been made available to the public!

Be sure to share your thoughts on this exciting announcement in our PSO2 Forums, where there is already a great deal of discussion going on about the Japanese release of the game

by dknbeats on Mon, 07/09/2012 - 5:00am

It was only a matter of time...and now?...it's only a matter of time!! :D cannot wait till the release :D

by Peejay on Mon, 07/09/2012 - 7:35am

I need to go to Sega and start busting heads, now.

by M3rror on Mon, 07/09/2012 - 7:43am

haha PSO-World's logo is at the bottom right on the PSO2 site. Maybe, just maybe, SEGA is reading our comments on a global server and hopefully will listen.

by Anon_Fire on Mon, 07/09/2012 - 8:09am

We all want global connectivity for PSO2.

by ChronoSphere on Tue, 07/10/2012 - 9:45am

Yeah I noticed that too. Why would they do it O_O

by Mizumi323 on Mon, 07/09/2012 - 7:49am

...It's a trap. Definitely. Though, in all seriousness, I hope that they do their best to keep it up to date with JP servers!

by Teerack on Mon, 07/09/2012 - 8:19am

thank you sega. best news ever.

by Neoistheone on Mon, 07/09/2012 - 8:23am

Yeah, no thanks SEGA, unless the the JP servers are made international I will stick to the JPN version, Thanks anyways.

by Anon_Fire on Mon, 07/09/2012 - 9:59am

I think you're confused. You mean "Global".

by zakura blade on Mon, 07/09/2012 - 7:04pm

very epic news now all can play

by BWS-1 on Mon, 07/09/2012 - 8:23am

Y E S! Sorry, too excited to bother being bothered by the Spring 2013 release date or whether it will be global servers or not.

by Pentence on Mon, 07/09/2012 - 9:05am

FOR LOVE OF ALL THINGS SEGA GLOBAL SERVER THIS WITH LANGUAGE OPTIONS!!! If they even have any inclination as to what the english speaking players want and want thier money then they need to do this. They hopefully will and add options for which voice set you want. Seriously im ataying on jp serv if this dosent have global interconnectivity which will also give it even more longevity.

by Jikap on Mon, 07/09/2012 - 9:18am

Good to know that there's an English version is on the way... Good luck SEGA!

In my opinion, PSO is, and has always been, a rather awkward game to localize. The voices & story cut-scenes is cheesy even in Japanese. The art, style, animation & body-language is definitely Japanese and any amount of voice talent won't be able to shake off the notion that something is wrong with whatever English dubs they add to it...
(It's why I think most dubs for anime is awkward as well... )

I'd ask them to leave an optional Japanese audio for the international crowd as well, though they haven't done so in any previous PSO games as far as I know... :/
(is a global license for the Japanese voices too expensive? )

The English fan-base has become very hard to please, and a lot of them have already settled down in the JP servers.
Dragging the English community from the Japanese servers and into the international servers will be tough. Deliver sub-par English voice dubs (again), and it'll be even tougher.
All in all, I'll wish them the best of luck, cause while I love the PSO franchise, I really think they'll need it. They got their work cut out for them, and it won't be easy.

by thematesV2 on Mon, 07/09/2012 - 10:33am

I think you hit a major nail on the head. not only is Japanese culture and socialization vastly different from Western, the content of their narrations can differ in subtle ways that even translators or re-writers can, and do miss, To dramatically different ends, most of the time. I am not sure about the western audience not filling up. I didn't know anyone on Xbox live that had played early PC release of PSU. I know some people did, but the mass amount of people I would meet up with only played it on Xbox, which means that post-western release, there were still tons of people jumping onboard, even if it was pay-to-play. with this title, being free-to-play, I think their western release will garner tons of players. the ratio of hardcore to casual players will probably be inverse to what it is now, but I still think it'll fill up quickly.

by thekkeffect on Mon, 07/09/2012 - 12:25pm

its mostly about the gameplay at least for me. about hunting for weapons beating up monsters n leveling up ur char n mag is what pso is about. i could care less about the voices or story to be honest i usually just skip those cutscenes anyways..haha

by Rootsuki on Mon, 07/09/2012 - 9:48am

Excited, but if the servers aren't shared, I will not be switching unless I will be able to transfer my character data, but hopefully we will get shared servers and will be able to just toggle for English.

by ShadyMilkman on Mon, 07/09/2012 - 10:01am

The game has options in it for utilizing different languages and if we all can remember.....Original PSO had shared servers :)

by pso2love on Mon, 07/09/2012 - 9:55am

Please Tell Sega Of America that if they're going to go ahead and put up an English site for PSO2, at least speed back up the original music! >.< Global Servers, PLEASE! I do not want to be left behind in updates like it was with PSU. Early 2013?! NO! Just translate the subtitles, and all the items and miscellaneous stuff into English. You don't have to give us Dubbed voice overs, it will save you time and money. That is way too long for an English translation. How much money do I need to give you to hire translators? ;) Bring back "Word Select" so that we may be able to communicate with people from other languages like we did in PSO. And last but not least, make the "Arks Cash" shop prices more reasonably priced. On a side note, I want to testify that I was able to play PSO2 JP just fine in my hotel room with my 4G connection from Verizon. I don't know about At&T's 3G service for the Vita, however, since they fixed the issue with server read/write, that means less lag, and fast warps. 3G on Vita for PSO2 now looks more promising, let's just hope the graphics on Vita will look just as great or better than PC.

by ShadyMilkman on Mon, 07/09/2012 - 9:59am

Well historically Ruby Eclipse has ALWAYS been at NYC Comic Con with the Sega booth hmmmmmmmmm possibly a NA demo that is playable there? I CANNOT WAIT!!!!!!

by PlutoniumJones on Mon, 07/09/2012 - 10:01am

This is one of the happiest days of my gaming life.

by Geist Zero on Mon, 07/09/2012 - 10:13am

Guys lets hope for the best. There are many hoping for the shared servers. we all know how painful it will be to start over with our characters. some may deal with ok, but others may not. So, Sega this goes out to you guys. if you have ears, listen and lets make this game the bomb Digity!!. :P We still Love you Sega. Dont be discouraged. You guys are still on my number one list. i know you guys can pull it off for America. Shared Servers and character transfer will make ALOOOT of people happy. i just wanna set that out there. thnx Sega for listening to your fans. hope to see the best yet to come.

by d19xx on Mon, 07/09/2012 - 11:05am

This makes me worry. If it takes Sega a year to localize the PC version. Then the Vita version which is gonna be out around 2013 in Japan, will be localized in 2014? I hope this isn't the case.

by Fontes on Mon, 07/09/2012 - 11:17am

"Oh no, I'm gonna have to start over!" "Aww, come on, I wanna play with the japanese!" "OMG, separated servers from JP version?! FAIL!" "I'll stick to the JP servers, thank you!"

Aww, come on! Don't say you didn't saw this one coming! If you feel such a royal need to speak with those who type in moon runes, go ahead and stay on the JP servers. The game's F2P, which most likely mean weaker servers than a P2P game, most of the times resulting in separating the servers regionally. Just be grateful the japanese ain't blockin' all our western IPs, like Nexon does!

tl;dr: Quit yer yappin' about a game for which you won't even need to pay for!

by Meevs on Wed, 07/11/2012 - 6:25pm

--------The game's F2P, which most likely mean weaker servers than a P2P game, most of the times resulting in separating the servers regionally. Quit yer yappin' about a game for which you won't even need to pay for!-------- Hmmm, okay, I'm pretty sure, if the majority of fans, those that are "yappin" got what they wanted, then we'd gladly fork over monthly fees for the upkeep of a global server and steady updates(and all free content for that matter), but they didnt...*cough* c's... so yeah, a game, or a piece of art,(from the creative music, to design, to story) that means a lot to those enthusiast is def. a reason to yap. yap, yap, yap!

by Fontes on Mon, 09/03/2012 - 5:34pm

That's why (almost) all MMOs are adopting some form of free-to-play into them. Makes it easier to get more players, keeping the community fresh. With that said, making PSO2 pay-to-play these days is plain suicide.

And like I said, once... We WILL have a global server. The japs simply have one just for themselves.

by Neith on Mon, 07/09/2012 - 11:33am

I'm happy with the Japanese version to be honest so I can't see me putting much (if any) time into a Western release, which given Sega's track record will be taken down years before the JP version. I looked past it with PSOBB but I've been through the same thing twice now so I'll stick with a version I know will last.

by FireFox276 on Mon, 07/09/2012 - 11:38am

Hell yeah! As the others have stated, expected but still uber excited! I also think it's cool that the PSO2 website links back to PSO-World. Nice job guys! You sure are in SEGA's good books! :)

by slipknotver on Mon, 07/09/2012 - 12:20pm

this JP server doesn't seem to be all that great. I have only been able to log in twice now. most of the time i get error messages no.242 and no.640 what is up with this?

by thekkeffect on Mon, 07/09/2012 - 12:20pm

awesome news!...now im just hoping i can use the same character i have now but either way by that time i might wanna start a new char so either way is fine..haha

by AncientRemnants on Mon, 07/09/2012 - 12:27pm

Wait... isnt the JP version still in open beta... so they might actually be released a few months apart... and if it is in the beta, wont your characters be deleted anyway when the beta is over?

by Fontes on Mon, 07/09/2012 - 12:28pm

It's been officially released this very month.

by AncientRemnants on Mon, 07/09/2012 - 12:34pm

ahh i see now

by pso2love on Mon, 07/09/2012 - 12:39pm

Comment I agree with from another site: "So nice to see US/EU cares about the game’s first impression. I mean look at that “teaser” site, it’s like an aspiring HTML developer (that cannot code just yet) slapped it together. Remember the “teaser” site PSO2 JP used? Why couldn’t they copy paste that over to the US/EU “teaser” site? This, to me, shows how much the company actually cares about international release. It’s not even about first impression anymore, it’s just releasing it to shut the rest of the world up. “Here, have your piece of meat too, now get lost.” Last nail in the coffin would be for them to announce a server split where EU/US will be like PSU. If they do that, they may as well not bring the game over at all. And again I will repeat, the gambling gatcha, will not work in the western crowd, I hope they rethink that."

by RadXXL on Mon, 07/09/2012 - 12:45pm

Wooo. After the sega lay offs, i was losing hope. SO happy to hear

by NitroPenguinz on Mon, 07/09/2012 - 12:52pm

well, for me this is really exciting. Ive been playing pso2 jp which is still quite fun. Although, none of my friends are willing to play it because they dont want to get around the bother of understanding all the japanese. But with this release, and it being f2p, me and all my friends can play and it will be freakin awesome.

by slave2pso on Mon, 07/09/2012 - 12:58pm

I think it was innevitable that it would get localised and come to US/EU - it was a question of when. But, 2013 is a long wait, so it's kinda hard to get too excited; a 2012 Q4 release would have been perfect.

by Kevin PSO on Mon, 07/09/2012 - 1:00pm

Oh, I'm excited alright.

by AOI_Tifa_Lockhart on Mon, 07/09/2012 - 1:55pm

I'm glad, I got PSO2, downloaded it and couldn't even muster the enthusiasm to go past the character creator. It was rather surreal seeing as I loved PSO and spent 1k+ hours on PSU but JP PSU wasn't enjoyable enough for me. So I won't play PSO2 on JP servers, i'll just wait for the EU release. I just hope Sega of America do a better job with updates this time round.

by Ken_Silver on Mon, 07/09/2012 - 3:13pm

WHOHOOOO!!! I'm so glad. And it's f2p? That guarantees that people will always be playing. Look at dcuo, a pretty average game all in all that benefited greatly from going F2P. I will be playing and paying good money for PSO2. I promise you that Sega! So come on and take my money! And i'll ignore the previous history of PS games internationally because of all of the new people that will come to PSO2 and will never touch the JP servers for the same reason I won't: I can't read Japanese. I hope the servers aren't that far behind (honest concern) and global servers are a middle of the road issue for me (good if we do, not a killer if we don't). I hope that a majority of people support the localization of these games and not stick over on the JP servers. After all, there are situations where they block us over on those servers. We don't have to worry about those restrictions when they're localized. ;)

by slipknotver on Mon, 07/09/2012 - 3:08pm

am i the only one having login problems? i only be able to log in a few times. most of the time its an error message. is the jp servers that messed up? i keep trying to at different times but i can get in niow and i know the download is fine cause i did get in a few times with a lil trouble.

by Lumpen Thingy on Mon, 07/09/2012 - 3:22pm

patch the game and you shouldn't have that problem

by slipknotver on Mon, 07/09/2012 - 4:02pm

how do i patch it?

by slipknotver on Mon, 07/09/2012 - 4:03pm

i thought it would patch it itself how do i do it?

by slipknotver on Mon, 07/09/2012 - 4:15pm

woot thanks i hit some buttons n got it to patch tyvm :D also does anyone want to play with me im on block 10 message me n we can group up.

by xenokai on Mon, 07/09/2012 - 4:10pm

Playing the JPN version is nice to try it but not undestanding any of the story completly ruins the exsperiance IMO, cant wait for the NA release! Now with consoles allowing same amount of patching as the pc versions it would also be nice if we could see it on a ps3/360, if not ill play on pc fo-sure.

by Shade_Koopa on Mon, 07/09/2012 - 5:08pm

Finally, we get a release date. And seeing as how JPN just release there..were what, 6 months behind them? Also, anyone know if the server will be mixed (US with JPN) or region only (US with US only/JPN with JPN only)?

by slipknotver on Mon, 07/09/2012 - 5:33pm

Japanese games are always released about 6 months b4 NA its nothing new and not just pso.

by pso2love on Mon, 07/09/2012 - 7:27pm

Release date(s) Sega Dreamcast Phantasy Star Online JP December 21, 2000 NA January 29, 2001 EU February 23, 2001 You were saying? o.o

by slipknotver on Tue, 07/10/2012 - 11:35am

oh wow u found one big deal u must not know much about JP games.

by pso2love on Sun, 02/24/2013 - 4:36pm

your argument is invalid... moving on

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