Sony Online Entertainment President John Smedley has been hinting at a PlanetSide sequel since he made a cryptic post on his Twitter page in September 2009. While it's not official, Smedley seems to have let it slip to The Escapist's Greg Tito that the tentatively titled PlanetSide Next may be coming out in March 2011:

"We have a very big launch coming in the month of March," Smedley said. "It's a big first person shooter franchise that we're really happy with."

I took a leap of logic and asked whether it was Planetside.

"Could be," Smedley said sheepishly. "We haven't technically announced it." He then told me that I could say that he "hinted" that the new Planetside was imminent, which translates to 99% of a confirmation. "This is the farthest I've gone [discussing it with the press] and the PR people are going to shoot me."

Considering we haven't heard much about the PlanetSide sequel, it seems a bit surprising that the game could be released in three months, especially when you consider the fact that The Agency has been delayed until late 2011. What do you think?

It's been a long time since we've heard anything about the rumored Planetside sequel, based on the original MMO-FPS hybrid launched by Sony Online Entertainment in 2003. So when a mysterious 18-day countdown clock appeared on the official Planetside Web site last night, community fansites like Planetside Universe were buzzing with speculation; could this finally be the announcement of a sequel, or on the other hand, could it mean the official Planetside servers are about to be closed after all these years? Based on last year's interviews and press announcements from SoE, our money is on the former.

Last fall SoE president John Smedley confirmed that a sequel MMO (codenamed "Planetside Next") was under-development. "Planetside Next means we get a chance to take the essence of everything that was fun in Planetside and make it a lot better," Smedley wrote in his blog. "Massive battles on a scale no other FPS will touch. None of this 64 player stuff. REALLY MASSIVE. With much better organization, and a tight focus on making sure the action is always going on, with awesome graphics."

Coupled with earlier reports like this one, the Planetside fan community has remained confident that SoE is committed to a sequel, despite the lack of news throughout the past few months. Hopefully the nondescript countdown clock on the official site will end with a major Planetside 2 announcement, perhaps with in-game screenshots or even a teaser video. For more information about one of the industry's first MMOFPS titles, check out our retrospective editorial, "Planetside: SOE's Forgotten MMO?" and be sure to visit ZAM's Planetside portal site for more news as the countdown continues!

UPDATE: Massively spoke with SOE and confirmed that Planetside Next is an internal working title and not the official title for the game.

In case you missed the news, Sony Online Entertainment recently confirmed that it plans to expand the Planetside universe with another game. SOE President John Smedley has referred to the new game as Planetside Next on his Twitter page and in his new LiveJournal. In fact, Smedley's newest blog entry is all about what Planetside Next means to him.

"To me, Planetside Next means we get a chance to take the essence of everything that was fun in Planetside and make it a lot better," Smedley said. "Massive battles on a scale no other FPS will touch. None of this 64 player stuff. REALLY MASSIVE. With much better organization, and a tight focus on making sure the action is always going on, with awesome graphics."

Smedley continues to use the word "massive" throughout his blog entry. We'll just have to wait and see if Planetside Next lives up to Smed's hopes for the game. You can read his full blog entry after the jump.

A few days ago, PlanetSide Universe published an e-mail that had been sent by Sony Online Entertainment to PlanetSide subscribers announcing that the company plans to expand the PlanetSide world with another game. This followed a Twitter post SOE President John Smedley wrote on Sept. 2 that simply said, "PlanetSide Next..."

The e-mail sent to PlanetSide players asked them to "guide the development and direction of the next hit Massively Multiplayer Online First Person Shooter" by taking a short survey. Well, SOE has now made that survey available to all gamers. You can fill out the survey here.

The questions cover a variety of topics, from how you'd rate and improve PlanetSide features to whether you play free-to-play games. This certainly suggests that the next PlanetSide game could be F2P if enough fans push for it. What types of features do you want to see in a new PlanetSide game?

Back in July, ZAM editor Christopher "Pwyff" Tom wrote an editorial about PlanetSide's current-day relevance. "Interestingly, while Planetside is probably one of the best FPSMMORPGs I've played to date, it's also very sad to see that it's one of the most abandoned MMOs I've seen in quite some time," Pwyff said about the game, which was released by Sony Online Entertainment in 2003.

A few days after the editorial was published, SOE announced the game's existing servers would be merged into one on Aug. 25. The company stated the servers were combined "in the interest in maintaining a high level of competition and gameplay" in the MMO. But with only one realm to its name, what does the future hold for PlanetSide?

On Sept. 2, SOE President John Smedley made a cryptic post on his Twitter page that simply said, "PlanetSide Next..." He made another post 12 minutes later that said, "you will like." While this information isn't much to go on, it looks like SOE is working on a sequel (or at least an update) to the MMOFPS. It would certainly make sense considering PlanetSide has a loyal fanbase. Since many players complain SOE seems to have forgotten about the game, perhaps they will get the attention they crave in PlanetSide Next.