Speculation of an MMO-styled Dragon’s Dogma have been doing the rounds for a couple of years by this point, what with Capcom filing multiple trademarks for an online-only version of the cult RPG. But today, the Japanese company has lifted the curtain on Dragon’s Dogma Online, a free-to-play title that will release for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3 and PC later this year.
First picked up by Japanese magazine Famitsu (translated by Gematsu), it’s understood the next iteration in the franchise will support micro-transactions given the F2P set-up, with budding explorers able to venture into a vast and new open-world. With four-player multiplayer support, DDO can support up to one hundred players at any given time, with teams dividing into groups of eight to complete the challenging raid missions.
At the time of writing, Capcom has unveiled four of the playable classes that users can expect in the final build, namely Priest, Shield Sage, Hunter, and Fighter, all the while noting that the MMO will contain AI companions and a deep crafting system — in keeping with genre conventions, then.
Without doubt, the decision to incorporate paid-for content will raise a few eyebrows among the series’ loyal fanbase, though the studio has assured devotees that while micro-transactions exist, Dragon’s Dogma Online will still feel like a proper entry in the franchise.
However, much like the studio’s Dark Souls-esque dungeon crawler, Deep Down, Dragon’s Dogma Online is currently without a western release date, and Capcom remained coy on any future plans to bring the new-fangled RPG to other territories. Yoshinori Ono, one the studio’s most esteemed producers, noted that Sony Computer Entertainment is assisting development of the MMO-styled title, though it’s likely that the publisher will gauge the reception in its native country before contemplating bringing DDO to the west.
