The PSO2JP dev team just posted an update about the coronavirus on their website http://pso2.jp/players/news/i_Schedule202004/. A short summary is:

"As a response to the coronavirus situation, the April 2020 update will be delivered as scheduled. However, the May, June, and all future updates afterwards are now indefinitely postponed. In addition, regular maintenance will be suspended, and the live broadcasts will be suspended.

The PSVita support end date will also be postponed indefinitely, and any campaigns associated with it will be rescheduled/reworked.

The Dudu boost that would have been in late April is also being postponed - However, when it eventually arrives, it's going to be slightly better than originally planned. We will boost the grind and affix success to 10% instead of the planned 5%."

This statement has come from the PSO2JP development team - However, that development team is also in charge of the PSO2NA server development/content rollout/etc, so it's possible we'll see similar delays on the NA side with a delay in content, possibly even delaying the PC release. (Though nothing has not been confirmed yet, so please don't explode in rage just yet)

I know this sucks and it isn't what anyone (including the devs) wanted, but please don't take out your anger and frustration on SEGA employees (including the JP team, NA team, or the GMs). They're only human too, and they deserve to be just as safe and healthy as the rest of us. I don't imagine harassing them on twitter or screaming at them about something they have 0 control over will make anyone feel better.

Thank you for your understanding and patience in these troubling times, and try to stay positive!

@Aida-Enna I am optimistic that it won't impact us immediately due to the environment of the NA server being different (and the game client state difference). I am hoping that with the way the Azure environment works, SEGA's team has everything they need to continue with it from home. I will keep that optimism until I am told officially to squander it!

@John-Paul-RAGE said in PSO2 JP Dev Team announcement about coronavirus and what it could mean for NA:

@Aida-Enna I am optimistic that it won't impact us immediately due to the environment of the NA server being different (and the game client state difference). I am hoping that with the way the Azure environment works, SEGA's team has everything they need to continue with it from home. I will keep that optimism until I am told officially to squander it!

That'd be awesome and a major PR selling point for Azure. "Oh yeah, during the coronavirus, SEGA was able to update the game 100% remotely and keep everything stable because they were using Azure."

And yeah, that's what we should all be doing - Hoping for the best outcome!

@Aida-Enna that would be a good selling point. While not entirely the same, the company I am working for uses Azure services (servers for development, VWAN, and some monitoring tools to go with it) for our EMEA environment and we haven't had any issues continuing to work from home. Granted, our development and routing is vastly different from engineering a major video game, but as long as the developers have the proper tools on their home workstations, access shouldn't be an issue.

Policy is a different beast, though. They could delay ours (even if it wasn't necessary) out of respect for their Japanese playerbase and to keep their dates aligned properly.

@John-Paul-RAGE said in PSO2 JP Dev Team announcement about coronavirus and what it could mean for NA:

@Aida-Enna that would be a good selling point. While not entirely the same, the company I am working for uses Azure services (servers for development, VWAN, and some monitoring tools to go with it) for our EMEA environment and we haven't had any issues continuing to work from home. Granted, our development and routing is vastly different from engineering a major video game, but as long as the developers have the proper tools on their home workstations, access shouldn't be an issue.

Policy is a different beast, though. They could delay ours (even if it wasn't necessary) out of respect for their Japanese playerbase and to keep their dates aligned properly.

That's awesome to hear! There's still a chance things could work out, then \ o /

And yeah - It'd be kind of a kick in the teeth (for JP players) to keep updating ours while not updating the original one. Stupid coronavirus has thrown a wrench into all timetables, ugh.

Honestly I think it's wishful thinking. The JP version is their priority and if they basically shutting down new content that doesn't look good for NA.

Imo beta until end of the summer and no PC version till then either

I'm hoping that this announcement is just a failsafe, and when things start normalizing, they will make another announcement.

Thanks for the update Aida~

Thank you for the update.

Sadly, unless a miracle happens, we all know what this means and how preventable this could have been.

I do of course, feel for the SEGA JP employees and i am happy if this means that they will stay safe and away from risk and that we will reduce or downright eliminate the chance of any employee contracting COVID-19 or even worse, leave us by it´s hand.

But if what seems inevitable, ends up happening, i am scared that the eyerolling is going to cause permanent eye rectus muscle damage.

We wait and see, i guess.

@Aida-Enna and @John-Paul-RAGE , I personally do not believe it might have as big an impact on the PC version's release...

From what is seen, all versions of PSO2 whether they be NA or JP and/or PC, PS4, Vita, Xbox One, are all compiled from the same source code with pre-compilers (or if statements) in place to compile features specific to either version or platform. Its for this reason that features and content that was exclusive to SEA, TW or NA still appear in the JP version from time to time.

So... in another post I made a theory that most of the fixes to issues found in Open Beta might come around as one big patch when Open Beta ends to transition the game to full launch. This 'big patch' would still need to be compiled from that same source code so its entirely possible that during that process Online R&D (the dev team) could also compile a "PC build" with "NA Edition" (each version is called an "Edition" in the source code...) parameters used for compiling the Xbox One version set to "true" (add NA server address, include NA features, gate content, etc).

Of course not to say the whole process is simple, there's also internal testing (not everything requires a public beta) and submitting the game to its distribution platforms, but in terms of code base... most of NA's changes could very much already be working on PC. In fact, there's some minor indications this may be the case as some screenshots used for the manual appear to be from the PC version. Here's an example...

This is the Xbox One main menu we know:

Now here's the PSO2 Menu as shown in the NA version's manual:

Less options... could have come from an earlier build right? well thats what most of you would think but in fact... this screenshot appears to be from the PC version.

since other than the removal of options related to PSO2es and Sega ID accounts, most of it lines up whereas Xbox One's options line up more with the PS4 version:

As aside from the removal of options relating to PSO2es, Offline Character Creator and Changing account info and the addition of language settings and window settings, the options listed and how they are phrased match. Both version's menu window even say different things as the JP PC version says "ログインメニュー" (LOGIN MENU) while the PS4 version says "タイトルメニュー" (TITLE MENU).

@Leonkh99 I still believe the PC version is already packaged and waiting deployment. Perhaps even a GM or two makes their rounds from the PC client.

@John-Paul-RAGE , as I had shown, some of the pictures used for the Online Manual come from the PC version.

That said, these screenshots could have been taken by Sega of Japan and sent to ESTsoft to put into their version of the Online Manual OR coudl have been taken by ESTsoft themselves.

All versions of PSO2 contain the code for all versions - There's no if or compile flags. For example, the JP PC version of PSO2 contains vita strings and Xbox one strings.

Also, the point of your post is that these open beta bugs would be fixed in a large patch - If the PSO2JP dev team isn't working on JP, they're very unlikely to be working on NA. If the patch is already completed, assuming there's no red tape to get around, it's definitely possible.

However, I think the coronavirus has put a large dent in communication between companies involved (Microsoft, Steam?, SEGA JP, SEGA NA) and that's a large part of why things are taking longer than expected.

@Aida-Enna said in PSO2 JP Dev Team announcement about coronavirus and what it could mean for NA:

If the PSO2JP dev team isn't working on JP, they're very unlikely to be working on NA.

There is a possibility that as they can't fully operate in JP, they might allocate some of the redundant resources to NA, I think. Still, I agree to your viewpoint that various factors caused by the virus making operations in NA difficult too. So it won't be an easy task for them.

Anyway, let's see what they say tomorrow.

The content is really stale already, and I have returned to the JP version just because there is sooo much to do. I understand the dynamics of what's going on for the future, but the open beta is about 20% of the total content in game, if that. With the hours of maintenance and posts, I am just going to assume the JP service will directly impact the NA services, which isn't a very promising outlook right now.

With no content release tonight, and another battle pass starting, i am really worried this is going to be a complete staggered release, where the content is there but the development/business team is trickling out the content. With this announcement, i wouldn't be shocked if there was a complete delay on content for the foreseeable future in NA.

I am over falz uq's, and aside from a couple of the points maps for leveling up my remaining alts, i feel like there is just nothing left.

min/maxing isn't really important. the costume selection is limited. With no announcement last night on any content update or pc release, i fear the game is gonna drop to really low numbers shortly , and interest and anticipation is already wearing thin.

I don't see how they drop content or a pc release in the middle of a battlepass. So , we are looking at another month of this before an announcement, making release pushed through to summer possibly later? There is no way this game survives that type of content drought