Looks like Firefall is going to have some competition in the persistent-world jetpack revival stakes, as Global Agenda developers Hi-Rez have announced that they now own the Tribes licence, and will be creating a PvP-focused action MMO called Tribes Universe. Details in the announcement post on the Hi-Rez forums are fairly encouraging: “We can’t transform Global Agenda to a large scale battle format but since we liked this concept a lot, we decided to create a new game based on large scale fighting. In order to develop the new game many significant steps had to be taken, including: A significant rewrite to the unreal engine servers to allow for 100+ players to be fighting in the same map, a new UI system that is more efficient, a different implementation of character visuals, a new terrain system, etc.”

Hi-Rez will continue to support Global Agenda, but this new, far more ambitious game will be the focus. Hi-Rez sez: “Alpha testing will begin at the start of the year (about 3 months from now) and Global Agenda players with level 50 characters will have priority in entering Alpha and Beta testing.” Exciting stuff. And interesting that this new game looks like the game Global Agenda players came away from that game wanting.