PlayStation customers in the West are finally getting their version of Phantasy Star Online 2, more than a decade after the game’s original release on Windows PC in Japan and more than six years after the online RPG’s launch on PlayStation 4 overseas. Sega announced Friday that the current version of the game, Phantasy Star Online 2 New Genesis, will come to PS4 on Aug. 31.
Phantasy Star Online 2 New Genesis is already available in North America and Europe on Xbox platforms and Windows PC, part because of a push from Xbox head Phil Spencer, who brought Sega’s game to Xbox’s E3 2019 stage show. The PlayStation 4 version of PSO2 New Genesis will be cross-platform compatible with the Windows PC and Xbox One versions.
Like other existing versions of the game, the PS4 version will be free to play.
The original PSO2 has been playable on a variety of platforms, including on PC, PlayStation Vita, and on Nintendo Switch, which is playable via the cloud. Phantasy Star Online 2 New Genesis is set 1,000 years after the events of the original PSO2, and builds upon that game’s action, combat, and character customization.
The Phantasy Star Online series launched on Sega Dreamcast in 2000. Inspired by Blizzard Entertainment’s Diablo and Sega’s classic 8-bit and 16-bit role-playing games, the original Phantasy Star Online took players online to the planet of Ragol, where they’d meet up with other adventurers to explore dungeons, complete quests, earn loot, and level up, using a variety of classes and races. Phantasy Star Online 2 New Genesis is set on the open world of Halpha, pitting players (ARKS) against a new enemy threat called DOLLS.
Phantasy Star Online 2’s journey to the West has been an arduous one. Sega originally planned to bring it stateside in “early 2013” and even brought a playable PC version to PAX in 2012, but it was indefinitely delayed. It wasn’t until 2019 that a firm plan to release it outside of Japan was confirmed.