Planetside 2 was released on November 2nd, 2012, offering massive battles of thousands of players against each other.  Their inclusion of airborne vehicles, heavy and light armor, and a variety of infantry made the massive battles fascinating, difficult, frustrating, and thrilling.  It being free to play was an added bonus, and the monetization model wasn’t too frustrating for most, as the majority of content could be experienced without ever dropping a dime.  The three various factions fighting over four diverse planets, vying for control over key areas and provinces to grant faction-wide buffs was a constant source of joy for millions of players on PS4 and PC.

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This makes it a bit surprising that there are almost no players online anymore to celebrate the seventh anniversary of the game, which alone hurts the game known for massive player versus player battles.  Perhaps this explains why the developer, Daybreak Game Company, appears to be disinclined to celebrate another anniversary.

The anniversary is celebrated, however; double experience for everyone from today until November 24th.  There’s also a decal available, and three different item bundles that you can purchase.

That’s the entirety of the celebration; it frankly seems hardly worthy of celebration at all.

Perhaps Daybreak Game Company is once again finding themselves far too occupied chasing the newest trends, with their newest battle-royale Planetside Arena, which still looks similar to every other battle-royale game minus the advanced technology.  The developers have stated that they’re eager to ‘incorporate many of the gameplay elements’ into their newest battle-royale.

This issue is that some veterans of the franchise have simply hung up their rifles for good.  Massive gameplay changes that rendered purchased items useless, shifting design scope often without finishing the previous features, and bugs galore that are somehow older than Planetside 2 has rendered the massive PvP game mostly dead, and the few remaining warriors vent their frustrations on forums across the internet.

The developers have attempted to keep the MMOFPS relevant over the past seven years, with changes that have been both welcomed and scorned by the player base.  The recent decision to push the game to Directx11 seemed like a good move to make, even though bugs still abound from the game being ported.  The decision to allow players to build bases with orbital nukes seemed…less thought-through.  Yet fans remained diligent through the (rough) patches, expecting Daybreak to eventually make it good in the end.

That goodwill has seemed to finally run out; the game is now empty, except occasional swarms of players culminating in small-scale warfare that can frankly be better experienced in other titles.  Without the thousands of players, Planetside 2 is just another mediocre shooter with a struggling player base.

Planetside 2 seems happily unaware of the smoke around them, and are eager to get some of that battle-royale cash that Fortnite seemed to gain so effortlessly.

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Happy birthday Planetside 2; Sorry it isn’t more of a party.