PlanetSide 2 will be free-to-play, SOE aiming to launch beta in late 2011 or early 2012

As a persistent open-world MMO shooter, the original PlanetSide was known for defying genre conventions - and like many newer online games, it will abandon the traditional monthly fee business model. Chinese outlet 17173 recently sat down with SOE president John Smedley, who said PlanetSide 2 will be adopting a free-to-play model and that SOE is aiming to launch a beta later this year or early next year.

Unfortunately, it seems that some of what Smedley said to 17173 has been misinterpreted by other news outlets. SOE provided GamesRadar with an official statement of clarification from John Smedley himself:

1) There is some really bad translation going on here - while I have publicly mentioned the game will be some form of Free to play before...the Blizzard style auction house isn't a part of that. I was asked what I thought of that move by Blizzard I said I thought it was a good idea and it would help with farmers. I also said we had done that years ago with Station Exchange. So no.... There is no RMT auction house (in fact we haven't ever even talked about an auction house for the game period). We aren't ready to announce specifics yet but expect something that will be very player friendly. I mentioned League of Legends as something I really liked.

2) I was asked about beta schedule and I said we were aiming for late this year or early next year but we don't know yet.

3) I did say that I believe SWTOR will be the last large scale MMO to use a sub model. The game looks great btw and I will be playing myself. Bioware is doing an awesome job.

Although SOE has not announced an official launch date for PlanetSide 2’s beta, it’s nice to have a rough idea of when we can expect it. And if SOE is looking at other successful free-to-play micro-transaction systems, Riot Games’ League of Legends sounds like a great place to start. Regardless, any news about PlanetSide 2 is good news. We’ll continue to keep you updated as development on PlanetSide 2 continues.

Sep 8, 2011

Source: 17173 via MMOSite