UPDATE (30 July / 3:00 PM):
Talk about being given a wet blanket. Once the game’s Steam page went live, we find out that Phantasy Star Online 2 is region-locked, and we’re locked out of playing the game.
ORIGINAL STORY (29 July / 3:45 PM):
Anyone here remembers Phantasy Star Online 2? The Sega-made online action RPG was published in Southeast Asia by Asiasoft, but ended the service back in 2017. Now though, it looks like the western release of the game will be coming to Steam.
Sega made the announcement on the game’s website. Alongside the move to Steam, the game will also be having a collaboration event which rewards players with cosmetics based on references to Valve titles. These ranges from Gordon Freeman’s HEV Suit and crowbar to Wheatley from Portal 2.
This announcement came just a couple of days following the announcement of Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis. Which, in itself, is a very confusing product. Not only is it a separate title coming in 2021, your character in the base game can also be used in it, in a limited capacity. In a sense, this Steam announcement may be a move to increase the game’s playerbase, and then move them all to the new expansion, if it can even be considered so.
At any rate, you’ll be able to download Phantasy Star Online 2 on Steam starting 5 August. As for the quests for the tie-in cosmetics, there doesn’t seem to be a time limit for by when you have to complete them.
(Source: Sega)
