Cult-classic Tribes is coming back courtesy of Global Agenda studio Hi-Rez.

After more than five years in limbo, Tribes is returning as an MMO. The license to the first and third-person shooter was recently discovered to be in the hands of Global Agenda developer Hi-Rez Studios, which has big plans for the franchise.

Hi-Rez CEO Erez Goren announced the news in the company's forums as part of Global Agenda's October update. While Goren regretfully told players that Hi-Rez was having trouble growing Global Agenda's code to incorporate larger warzones that would feature up to 100 players, he did reveal that the studio was developing this concept in an entirely different game using the Tribes license.

Hi-Rez's Tribes Universe will finally bring back the multiplayer shooter that featured jetpacks long before Halo: Reach. Though Tribes had multiple installments, with Irrational Games' Tribes: Vengeance incorporating single-player, the franchise is popular thanks to its up to 64-player multiplayer matches that take place on many different maps in various modes that give players freedom to customize their own characters in multiple ways.

Goren listed highlights of Tribes Universe that include three different factions, a non-instanced persistent world with territory control, huge outdoor maps, a focus on PvP, 100+ player battles, jetpacks, skiing, lots of weapons, and more. Hi-Rez now has two separate teams: one working on small-scale warfare in Global Agenda and another on large-scale warfare with Tribes Universe

Tribes players tend to be pretty hardcore into their multiplayer, so this is a great acquisition for Hi-Rez whose Global Agenda was inspired by Tribes anyway. Tribes Universe's alpha testing phase is expected to start in early 2011.

Source: Global Agenda Forums