H1Z1 developer Daybreak Games is looking to change up the gaming landscape once again. This time with their upcoming PlanetSide Arena battle royale which will host more than 500 players. The game was announced on the back of Daybreak’s news of more employees being made redundant last week.
Having conceded the battle royale phenomenon to the likes of PUBG, Fortnite, and more recently, Black Ops 4‘s Blackout, Daybreak is looking to shake the game mode up once again with their upcoming expansion to the online-shooter PlanetSide, with PlanetSide Arena. And while the game will offer the usual PvP modes at a later date, Daybreak is banking on its new approach to the battle royale game to getting players excited. Well, it’s not so much a “new” approach as it is increasing the player count to a staggering 500-player arena.
Though, there are loftier goals in mind for the game, with executive producer Andy Sites telling USGamer that the game’s engine and code mean, “we can expand up to a thousand-plus players.” But the gameplay will remain essentially the same as what we’ve come to expect from battle royales, with players fighting across an ever-shrinking map. Daybreak has also confirmed that character classes will be included in the game, similar to the Battlerite Royale.
Reaction to the announcement from fans hasn’t been so positive, however. Most fans were hoping for more than what seems to be a hosting world for different game modes. While other fans are wary of what the next battle royale from the developers will look like. Especially after Daybreak announced that a further set of redundancies had taken place in the company, with a supposed 70 people losing their jobs.
Whether PlanetSide Arena can win players over with its gaudy player count remains to be seen, though that won’t be too long as the game arrives on January 29, 2019.
