John Smedley has posted a teaser showing the reunification of Rum and Cola, and presumably working on another massive FPS game.
Lots of speculation is about, but here is what I believe.
1) John Smedley loves PlanetSide. This is partly rooted in what he has called "PlanetSide Zero" which was Tanarus, his first online game and the game that led to Everquest's creation. That is very special to him, as it would be for anyone. He has also posted many times over the last decade favorably about PlanetSide 2 and opined a bit about how he wants PlanetSide 3. In this context, I have to believe that John Smedley absolutely wants the franchise and MMOFPS genre to live on. He also regrets shutting down PS1.
2) John Smedley has brought back T-Ray and Higby, and has from what the internet detectives have uncovered, a studio named Distinct Possibility Studios, whose predecessor is believed to be a company that has about 18 million in funding. About a year ago, the PlanetSide IP was sold for about 5 million to an unknown shell company, and this is about a year after John Smedley left Amazon Studios and several months after bringing back Tramell and Matt. Given Smed's love of PlanetSide and his desire not to see it shut down, I have a strong suspicion that the real owner of the PlanetSide IP is in-fact John Smedley. This would allow him to keep the game running, even if it is a very small maintenance team, and have access to all of the branding and IP for another PlanetSide game, both of which seem to me like something Smed wants to do. The existing PlanetSide IP may also bring in some small revenue over time to fund a small dev team to develop the next game. Even if this is not the case, the spiritual successor in everything but name could still very much be happening, but I think there is a distinct possibility that Smed has reclaimed the IP, at the very least to preserve its legacy, if not build it out further.
3) Given the teaser by Smed, and the images we saw, it is a safe bet that PlanetSide 3, or at least an MMO-FPS of the same style and spiritual successor, is in the very early stages of development. If my memory and knowledge of PS2 financials is correct, it was approximately 120 million to make PlanetSide 2 over two years and involved over 100 people. But it started with a very small group several years before PlanetSide Next was announced. 18 million would be enough for a studio 1/10th that size to operate for a few years, but it all depends on how much money they are spending and how big the team is. The next step would be building something to show or attract investors that would create more funding or loans to make the full game. Early proofs of concept, some tech or game demos showcasing their vision, business plans, etc. This is John Smedley's bread and butter; he's done it many times and I'm convinced the teaser is fits his MO. He did the same thing with PlanetSide next, teasing images of aircraft that would become the Mosquito and Reaver of PS2, though it was a long time before that game was real.
So to answer the question - yes, I think they're really doing it! But don't get your hopes up too much; it could be years before we see an official announcement, and the game may fail to get further funding. They have to get more investment first, and are likely very tight on resources. I'm sure when those things are more solid we'll see more teasers from John Smedley, probably as part of the effort to build hype and secure further investment. We also don't know what type of game this is. The images on the screen and the history and direct reference to PlanetSide 2 strongly hints at a MMOFPS, but it could end up being a very different game. They're making something, and its probably an FPS, and probably massive, but that's about all we know.
He has the right people, and he appears to have at least enough funding to incubate. I'm also watching to see if Kevin McCann makes a return. For those who do not know, Kevin McCann was the Creative Director of PlanetSide, contributed to PlanetSide 2, and created Tanarus with John Smedley. If you see that name crop up - that is most assuredly a sign that PlanetSide 3, or Tanarus Next, or PlanetSide Forever or whatever they want to call it is not just a pipe dream, and the whole band is coming back together.
How can we help make this happen? Contribute to the hype and buzz! Show that people want this, and want to play this, and that is something special that an investor should bet on.
I'm going to spin back up my writings and start putting out more content again. That's my way of helping make this happen.
