PlanetSide (video game)

PlanetSide is a massively-multiplayer online first-person shooter that was released in 2003. It was created and published by Sony Online Entertainment. The game is set on the planet Auraxis, where three factions fight for control over ten different continents. Players serve as soldiers for one of these factions and can specialize in roles like infantry, combat vehicle crew, invisible infiltrator, combat medic, or combat engineer. The game is mostly played from a first-person perspective, though a third-person view is also available.

Unlike most shooters, which feature small matches on isolated maps, PlanetSide could host battles with hundreds of players at once. These fights revolved around controlling territory and strategic points, with outcomes affecting all three factions. It remains one of the few MMOFPS games ever made. A sequel, PlanetSide 2, was released in November 2012, but it is a "re-imagining" of the original rather than a direct follow-up. On January 24, 2014, Sony Online Entertainment announced the game would become free-to-play in April 2014, and it officially launched as free-to-play on April 29, 2014, after several delays. The servers were permanently shut down on July 1, 2016, at 4:00pm PT.

PlanetSide holds a Guinness World Record for "Most players in a single online FPS battle," achieved when 600 players were active simultaneously in one battle. It also once held the record for "Most players online at one time in an FPS war game" with 6,400 players on the Emerald server, though that record is now held by its sequel, PlanetSide 2.

The story begins when the Terran Republic, a centralized oligarchic government that had ruled humanity for a thousand years, discovers a habitable planet through a deep space wormhole. The planet, named Auraxis, already has native, highly developed flora. Expeditions are sent to colonize it, and colonists soon find the remains and technology of a lost alien species called the Vanu. This technology is incredibly complex, involving energy levels previously thought impossible, and allows for rapid colonization of ten continents, creation of power sources and vehicles, and development of rebirthing technology. This nanotechnology lets Terrans deconstruct and reconstruct their bodies for fast travel, and later it is discovered that dead workers can be brought back to life, granting immortality.