Sony Online Entertainment and Major League Gaming announced a partnership this morning that will somehow bring PlanetSide 2 (you know, the massive shooter with up to 2,000 simultaneous players) to the professional gaming stage. I pity the shoutcasters who try to take this one on.
Details on how SOE and MLG will make PlanetSide 2 an eSport are still being hammered out. The duo said they plan to work together over the "next few months" to develop "ideal competitive gameplay features and settings to showcase" PS2.
"PlanetSide 2 players are extremely loyal to their chosen Empires and when it comes to battling, they are beyond competitive and truly enjoy the in-game rivalries, so it was the natural next step for us to bring PlanetSide 2 to the most competitive eSports organization," SOE President John Smedley said in a statement.
I'm a PlanetSide 2 fan (Vanu forever!) and genuinely curious how this will work. I imagine two immediate changes will have to be made: a much, much smaller map with smaller teams and some sort of game clock. Both would take away from what makes PlanetSide 2 special and unique, so hopefully SOE and MLG will figure out how to retain the core experience while establishing rules and goals that make it a strong eSport.
What changes would make you interested in watching a PlanetSide 2 MLG match?