The gears of the gaming industry are greased with three things: hype, hope, and, more often than not, heartbreak (well, also money, so four). In a recent turn of events that has everyone from die-hard fans to casual gamers raising their eyebrows, Daybreak Game Company has reportedly sold the popular PlanetSide IP.
Yesterday, Enad Global 7 (EG7), Daybreak’s parent company, casually dropped a major reveal in its Q4 2023 financial report, mentioning the sale of a “noncore IP” for a cool $5.9 million. In the grand scheme of corporate speak, “a nice boost to its liquidity” sounds about as exciting as watching paint dry.
However, for the eagle-eyed denizens of the PlanetSide 2 subreddit, this was a sign that something sinister was afoot. Surprisingly, though, their fears weren’t entirely unfounded. A little sleuthing revealed references in the US Copyright Office database to PlanetSide‘s IP being transferred to Bay Tree Tower Limited.
“Who?” you might ask. Well, join the club, because nobody seems to know what this shell company is. Bay Tree Tower Limited sounds a lot like the kind of company you’d expect to be involved in real estate – or money laundering – not a sprawling MMO first-person shooter series.
As far as clarity regarding this entire sale goes, Daybreak and EG7 have been dead silent. No comments, no press releases, nothing to even give a hint on whether the IP in question is actually PlanetSide. Obviously, this has left the PlanetSide community chasing any rumor, no matter how ludicrous, for clues about the future of the IP.
One rumor claims that Amazon is behind the acquisition of the PlanetSide IP. This train of thought is justified by the fact that Andy Sites, a former PlanetSide Executive Producer from Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) and Daybreak, now works at Amazon Games San Diego. On top of that, Jon Smedley, the former studio head of SOE and Daybreak, helmed that San Diego studio until 2023.
It goes without saying (though we’ll say it anyway) that you should take this with a grain of salt. Even if it turns out to be true, it might not be the ticker-tape parade moment fans would hope for, given Amazon Games’ less than stellar track record.
Remember Crucible? No? Well, that’s part of the point. Amazon’s first original title, a free-to-play multiplayer third-person shooter, fumbled its launch, primarily due to a respawn system that felt like it was designed by someone who has no idea what “game mechanics” mean.
The PlanetSide franchise is renowned for its large-scale battles, involving hundreds of players fighting for control over vast, open-world maps. The games are set on the fictional planet of Auraxis, where three distinct factions vie for supremacy. Players choose a faction and engage in infantry, air, and vehicle combat across varied terrains, capturing bases and territories to gain strategic advantages.
PlanetSide 2, the last game in the series, was released in 2012 and introduced new classes, vehicles, and weapons, along with a more sophisticated territory control system that emphasized strategic gameplay. Currently, PlanetSide 2 holds the Guinness World Record for ‘Most players in an online FPS battle,’ with 1530 players participating simultaneously.
