Lost Planet

Lore & Background

The first Lost Planet game takes place in the year T.C. -80 on the fictional planet E.D.N. III. After Earth becomes too hostile for humans, the megacorporation NEVEC plans to colonize E.D.N. III, which is in the grip of a brutal ice age. The planet is inhabited by an aggressive insectoid alien species called the Akrid, which generate thermal energy. The plot follows snow pirate Wayne as he attempts to overthrow NEVEC and help colonization efforts. Lost Planet 2 is set ten years after the first game, with melted snow revealing jungles and tropical areas, and centers on a civil war to gain thermal energy. Lost Planet 3 is a prequel following the story of Jim Peyton on E.D.N. III.

Reader's Guide

The Lost Planet series is significant for its distinctive setting—a frozen planet where thermal energy is both a resource and a survival necessity. The first game was a commercial success, shipping over a million copies by January 2007 and winning best Xbox 360 game at the Leipzig Games Convention. The series expanded with a gold edition (Colonies Edition), a sequel, a spin-off (E.X. Troopers), and a third installment developed externally by Spark Unlimited. Despite mixed critical reception for several entries, the series sold 6.9 million units by the end of 2025. A film adaptation was announced in 2008 with David Hayter attached to write and direct, but the project stalled due to internal issues between companies and eventually faded.

Did You Know?

• The main character of the first game, Wayne, was based on Korean star Byung Hun Lee, using 3D scanning and facial expression capture.
• Lost Planet: Extreme Condition Colonies Edition introduced cross-platform play between Xbox Live and Games for Windows – Live users.
• E.X. Troopers, a spin-off, was released only in Japan and featured Monster Hunter elements due to sharing a producer with that series.
• Lost Planet 3 was developed by Spark Unlimited rather than internally by Capcom.

The Frozen World of E.D.N. III

The Lost Planet franchise is set on E.D.N. III, a planet gripped by a brutal ice age, where humanity has fled after Earth became uninhabitable due to war, global warming, and pollution. The interstellar megacorporation Neo-Venus Construction, known as NEVEC, spearheaded the colonization effort. However, the planet is home to the Akrid, an aggressive, territorial insectoid alien species that comes in all shapes and sizes and generates its own precious thermal energy. A great war between humans and the Akrid ended in human defeat 150 years before the first game's events, set in the in-game year T.C. -80. The series follows various protagonists—most notably Wayne Holden, a "snow pirate"—as they navigate survival against the environment, alien creatures, and rival colonizers. The ice age setting returns in the third entry after the second game explored more varied environments.

Development & the Real-Person Protagonist

Capcom unveiled Lost Planet on December 10, 2005, at an invite-only press conference, naming Jun Takeuchi as producer and executive producer, Kenji Oguro as designer, and Shin Kurosawa as the original story writer. Following Capcom's tradition of basing protagonists on real people, the team modeled the first game's hero, Wayne, after Korean star Byung Hun Lee. They used a program called Face Robot to capture Lee's basic expressions and translate them into Wayne's in-game face. Lee also dressed in a recreation of Wayne's attire for a full-body 3D scan processed through a function called GATOR. However, character animations were performed manually rather than motion-captured. Environmentally, a single battle could render between 300,000 and 600,000 polygons on screen, with elaborate details added by hand using XSI software. The overarching goal was to craft a title that would achieve commercial success in both North America and Japan.

Sales, Awards & Critical Reception

As of December 31, 2025, the Lost Planet series has moved 6.9 million units worldwide across all titles. The original Extreme Condition shipped over a million copies by January 2007, becoming Capcom's second million seller for Xbox 360, and had surpassed 1.6 million Xbox 360 copies—including downloads—by March 2016. The Xbox 360 version, the original lead platform, earned IGN's Editor's Choice award and the best Xbox 360 game title at the Leipzig Games Convention, while the PlayStation 3 and PC versions drew more mixed reviews. Lost Planet 2 sold 1.9 million copies across platforms by March 2016, with its PC build attracting notable criticism despite the console versions receiving comparable reception. Lost Planet 3, developed externally by Spark Unlimited, received mixed reviews across all platforms, though Famitsu praised its renewed focus on storytelling. E.X. Troopers, a Japan-only spin-off, underperformed commercially but cultivated a devoted cult following.

Series Expansion & the E.X. Troopers Spin-off

The Lost Planet franchise spans three main numbered entries—Extreme Condition (2006), Lost Planet 2 (2010), and Lost Planet 3 (2013)—plus the spin-off E.X. Troopers (2012). Capcom developed the first two main titles and the spin-off internally, while Spark Unlimited took the helm for the third installment. The 2008 Colonies Edition expanded the first game with new multiplayer maps, a Human-versus-Akrid mode, additional characters and weapons, and four new single-player modes including Score Attack, Time Trial Battle, a first-person shooter mode, and Unlimited Mode, alongside cross-platform play between Xbox Live and Games for Windows Live. E.X. Troopers, released exclusively in Japan for Nintendo 3DS and PlayStation 3 in November 2012, introduced more dangerous Akrid variants, new weapons, and lock-on-based combat reminiscent of Gundam vs. Gundam, while incorporating Monster Hunter-style elements owing to its shared producer with that franchise. Despite lower sales, the title earned positive marks from Famitsu and a lasting cult following that prompted Western Capcom to acknowledge fan interest and the Japanese branch to release music tracks on the game's anniversary.