Ace Patrol sequel Pacific Skies will not be free-to-play when it arrives on iOS this autumn
Take to the skies
Earlier this year, we were treated to the strategic aerial combat of the Gold Award-winning Sid Meier's Ace Patrol. Today, a sequel was announced, and we're pretty happy about that.
Ace Patrol: Pacific Skies is a direct follow up to Ace Patrol, and will feature dogfighting missions across Pearl Harbor, Midway, and Guadalcanal. There will also be new AI, new planes to fly, and new maneuvers to get used to.
But these gameplay changes are not the biggest difference between the sequel and the original game.
Talking to Polygon, Meier revealed that Pacific Skies would not be free-to-play, unlike the original iOS title. This is the result of feedback from players, who apparently would have preferred to pay upfront for Ace Patrol.
"I think there's almost a natural suspicion when you get a free game that there must be a catch," Meier said.
"So I think there's almost a game-within-a-game that's being played with the free-to-play-type titles, and our players are used to jumping into a game and expecting to play for an hour or two hours to reach this deep and rich experience", Meier added.
The other big surprise regarding Pacific Skies is the planned launch window. 2K will bring the sequel to iOS and PC this autumn, a matter of months after the original game hit the App Store.