Comparing Western PSO2 and PSU

Now that official confirmation of region-separated servers has been made public, there's been a lot of debate in the community as to whether or not Phantasy Star Online 2 is doomed to be a repeat of PC/PS2 Phantasy Star Universe in terms of content and support.

Obviously there's no way we'll know the answer to this until the beginning of next year, when the servers go live. Still, I'm inclined to believe that support for PSO2 will be much better than it was for PSU.

First, consider the fact that PSO2 is free to play. This is the most important point because it drastically increases the pressure on Sega to provide a product that is well supported and fresh content-wise.

In a subscription-supported game such as PSU, players can look at the lack of updates and/or support and question where the money is really going. Players that feel the service is inadequate can cancel their subscriptions, though they lose the ability to play the game. This might result in a small subset of players that continue to pay the subscription in the hope that things will get better, despite the fact that they aren't really getting what they are paying for.

This will not be the case with PSO2. If players feel that they aren't getting the proper level of service and/or support, they can stop paying for premiums and continue to play the game. That subset of unhappy subscribers in the first scenario is gone—people won't pay until things get better. Thus, Sega can only continue to bring in the money if they keep players happy from the start. This also means that the majority of the money generated from the Western game should be "reinvested" in the Western game, not funneled to the Japanese servers.

Then there's the issue of PSU itself. Sega's history of managing the PC/PS2 side of PSU is well documented and well understood by all. Surely Sega knows that players are not likely to be fooled again with PSO2. Any sign of a prolonged slip-up, or an increase in the content gap, and it's straight back to the Japanese servers for most. Again, this problem is easily solved by managing the game properly and keeping players happy from the start.

The beginning of 2013 will be an exciting time for all PSO2 players. Hopefully Sega will rise to the occasion and deliver a service that makes the game popular and profitable in the United States and Europe. The important thing to remember is that the PSO2 community needs to at least give the US/EU version of the game a chance. All of us are skeptical (and we have every right to be) but there's no point in making a final judgment before the game even gets here. Wait and see what happens... we might all be surprised!