January launch for DC Universe?

By Fred Dutton Published 20 December, 2010

PS3's "first MMO" is nearly here.

Sony's forthcoming superhero MMO, DC Universe, could be with us a little sooner than expected, with Amazon announcing a January ship date for the PC and PlayStation 3 title.

According to Massively, customers who have pre-ordered the title in the US are receiving notification from the online retailer that the game will be with them between the 18th and 20th of January.

A spokesperson for Sony Online Entertainment told Eurogamer that an official announcement regarding a release date is due in the next 48 hours or so.

Earlier this year DC Universe had been bumped from its intended November release slot into a vague Q1 2011 window.

SOE boss John Smedley explained that the title had been delayed to give it a little extra polish.

"SOE is dedicated to delivering the highest quality game experiences possible," he said. "As the game heads into external beta testing, this extra time will allow us to address community feedback in a meaningful way. When we get deeper into external beta, we'll be able to share more information regarding the new launch date."

Smedley also claimed that DC Universe would be "the first MMO on PlayStation 3". What with Final Fantasy XIV's recent slip, it looks like that pledge will come true.

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About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (23) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Spekingur #1 1 year ago

    Sure sure, the first MMO on PS3. But how much of game is it? That's what I want to know.

  • riceNpea #2 1 year ago

    "notification from the online retailer that the game will be with them between the 18th and 20th of January"

    that'll be the 19th then :p


    i am currently playing the beta and it's quite fun. character customisation is well implemented and the game itself is quite engaging though those not used to mmo's may find the grind off-putting.

    it's cool to form a league of villians and go looking for heroes to bash up.

    my character is a villian called Lesboto. she's a flying, lesbian robot. 3 of my favourite things

  • Gambit1977 #3 1 year ago

    I've seen Lesboto! It's you then :D
    I'm seriously considering getting this now, I've loved every minute of the Beta.

  • atarianer #4 1 year ago

    It costs ~60 to buy and a monthly fee of 15 Euros, am i right ?
    I think i'll pass ..

  • riceNpea #5 1 year ago

    cool! who are you Gambit? hero or villian? did Lesboto try to convert you to the delights of lesbianism as is her raison d'etre?

    Lesboto is up to the level cap so i may start another. a hero this time. Lesboto's natural enemy. Dildo Man.


    Edit: no price plan has been officially announced. £15 a month is what's rumoured.
    Edited by riceNpea at 20/12/10 @ 19:42

  • Spekingur #6 1 year ago

    It will probably end up F2P - just like almost every other MMO out there. Seems to be the natural evolution of an MMO (except for WoW).

    So, it is basically like CO - or rather CoH, since you can create heroes and villains. Gameplay-wise that is. Right?

  • Miths #7 1 year ago

    I've only been playing the PS3 beta for a couple of hours, but first impressions haven't been altogether positive for me - actually they've mostly been negative.
    It's obviously way too early for me to comment on actual gameplay, but so far I have three fairly major issues with the game - the interface is more slow and awkward than I had ever feared (and with pretty small text, on a 40" HDTV, in a few screens), I don't like the camera (a bit too far zoomed out for my taste, and if you enable auto zoom it zooms all the way into first person view when standing still and is way too slow to zoom out again once you start moving or fighting) and the framerate seems frequently sketchy.

    Hopefully at least interface and performance are things they will improve upon before release (not that there's apparently a lot of time left), otherwise I strongly suspect I'll be sticking to my PC for MMORPGs, even though I've been looking forward to trying a console MMO.

  • CaoSlayer #8 1 year ago

    I can't believe they are releasing it that soon, I have been playing the beta and is VERY unstable, I had my ps3 freeze about 5 times in a weekend besides a fall-through-the-ground.
    The game is still beta IMO.

    Im playing with a nineties anti-hero called The Flayed, is a hulking brute with red blood ripped skin.

  • _LarZen_ #9 1 year ago

    I have tested the game and good luck reading quest and info on your tv. Beacaus its soooo tiny your brain is gonna explode.

    The gfx and gameplay there is no other nice way to say it...shit. This is typical SOE to deliver a game that wil not live to tell the tale. Some hardcore DC fans wil come and establish the DC Universe defence force and kick me in the face but gues what...I can afford to go to the dentist and buy some new teeth!

    DC Universe is gonna be one of 2011 worst games.

  • ZizouFC #10 1 year ago

    I have a feeling it will be released sometime late February - early March but I am hoping for a January release.

    If it isn't ready then I am happy to wait. It just sucks because I don't have the cap to download the beta.
    Edited by ZizouFC at 20/12/10 @ 20:11

  • riceNpea #11 1 year ago

    yes it's unstable. it freezes often and the sound disappears. it has targeting issues and laggy menus. the list goes on. but it is a beta. you have been invited to help discover the unknown problems the game has. you're just testers. complainging about the beta is pointless. it will crash so get the 'demo' frame of mind out of your heads. have you even left feedback when something unexpected happens? i'm willing to bet not.

  • Pinky_Floyd #12 1 year ago

    Test the game, report issues, get the game
    Improved for release. Whingers.

  • Gambit1977 #13 1 year ago

    @riceNpea

    I've got two on the go.
    A fat dude with an Afro and a red and White suit called Mackem Hurt, and my main one Glava, he's a cosmic leprechaun with fire powers and bad skin :) I'm level 15, in Gotham at the mo but dont want to leave...shame as only mission I can find is lvl 17 and it's rock!

    Great game. Deserves support!

  • SpookyTang #14 1 year ago

    Loving the few hours i've played so far, will need to see what the subscription model is but i'm almost certain that i'll be buying.

  • chris_ace #15 1 year ago

    Post deleted at 11:55:13 13-12-2011

  • riceNpea #16 1 year ago

    @Gambit

    i think i remeber seeing Mackem Hurt. next time i'll say hi.

  • NotSoSlim #17 1 year ago

    @Larzen

    gfx on a MMO? Gameplay far enough but the gfx are great as they are and the gameplay is like evry other MMO i.e alot of grinding. Worse game of 2011? Laughable

  • hobojebus #18 1 year ago

    Champions online failed and i'm sure this will aswell simply because superhero MMO's are a niche market and cant attract the kind of numbers MMO makers want.

    I am a geek, i read comics and i have no interest in this and neither do any of my mates we are all pretty meh about it, and sony need to change that or it'll launch and fade away in the same month.

    I know for a fact this has been super expensive to make and if it cant get a few hundred thousand subs it'll be going free to play very quickly.

  • ToAks #19 1 year ago

    an awesome game but i fear that if i buy it i will end up playing nothing else instead...


    hmm... i'll play GT5 and LBP2, DS 2 and a few others before even considering DCU:o. i think :_)

  • JamieR #20 1 year ago

    I find mmo games to be terrible compared to single player games the only reason people play them is so they can brag about how tough their character is. if they made fallout a mmo how would they change it they would remove a lot of story and make the game last longer by having boring tedious quests and they would make it take longer to level so you have to kill the same enemy's a 1000 times just to level up.

  • actionfitz #21 1 year ago

    "first MMO on PlayStation 3"

    hmm. my sceptic engine is going into overdrive here.
    Fair play to them if they pull it off, but as someone who came late to city of heros/villains and found them both to be rather shit after the character creation...
    I'll wait and see how launch goes - never ever buying a new MMO on launch day again.
    even TOR, i dont care how much love i have for Bioware... been burnt too many times.
    Bloody tablula rasa, Age of conan, vanguard, hellgate london, WAR, Aion etc...
    motherfuckers.

  • thedgam #22 1 year ago

    In an already stacked gaming year, crysis, killzone, uncharted, infamous, resistance, me3 just to mention a few and the other 20 titles that would be possibly great they expect me to role play?! I'm in. My life, out.

  • fongy #23 1 year ago

    I've played the beta quite a lot now and...
    I'm a bit surprised they've pushed forward the release date - according to websites (and Amazon) it's 14th January...
    I think there's a LOT of bugs - I've reported loads of stuff, from NPCs walking through buildings to severe slowdown and screen freezes (seems to be the main problem)...
    When it works, I think it's brilliant, the scope and storylines and after a while you appreciate the graphics - it's not the best looker by any means, but reminds me of Infamous and that's good enough for me...
    I think it probably needs the March release though to iron out all of these issues, I doubt it'll get any more polish...
    I've had a couple of major PS3 crashes where I've had to turn off / on - not good.
    If they release this with all of these bugs still there (especially the screen freezes) then it'll kill the game dead...
    Still a day one purchase for me though!
    :)