Not a lot of details at the moment. Obviously a multiplayer focus with some speculation of it being a free to play game. Details in Famitsu on January 29th 2015. Famitsu Article. Google Translated Article.

I would love a MP focused Dragon's Dogma, but I hope it isn't some free to play microstransaction garbage. Any one else tentatively excited?

Could this be Deep Down? I haven't heard much about that game since it was announced, but I remember it looking a bit like Dragons Dogma, and heard some rumours that it was online f2p.

If it's an MMO, it's more than likely F2P.

From NeoGAF:

Okay, I looked at all the details.

Title: Dragon's Dogma Online

Platforms: PS3/PS4/PC

Genre: Action

Price: Free 2 Play (With microtransactions)

Producer: Minae Matsukawa

Director: Kento Kinoshita

Executive Producer: Hiroyuki Kobayashi

The game is an online game with a full open world, a lobby area supporting up to 100 players, and feature ongoing content updates, timed events, etc. Players can form parties of up to 4 players or pawns, and engage on quests. There will also be raid-like events which support up to 8 players at once. There will be quick matching as well.

Sounds pretty much like an online only MMO type game without the full MMO gameplay. Similar to stuff like PSO and Guild Wars.

Credit: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=149332799&postcount=331

Well, huh. Kind of disappointed, but considering how things are in the business, not that unexpected.

I'm guessing that it's only scheduled for a Japan release right now?

That doesn't sound like what I want out of Dragons Dogma

Typical. Instead of building on the potential of the first to make an awesome sequel, just make some free 2 play nonsense... disappointing.

It seems that way according to Eurogamer.

A Capcom UK representative told Eurogamer this morning that there are no plans to release Dragon's Dogma Online in the west, so don't hold your breath.

It's fucking F2P on PS3\PS4 and PC so yeah, microstransactions are a given

No thanks!

I am definitely curious, will check it out if it comes over.

I love Dragon's Dogma, so I'll end up checking this out to some degree, but my internet connection's nowhere near good enough for an online-only type game and on top of that most of what I love about Dragon's Dogma came from the controls and combat system itself. If all of that stuff stays... if nothing else it oughta produce some really incredible animated gifs of players pulling off shenanigans involving blacking the screen out with maelstroms.

Sounds like a free to play Monster Hunter set in the Dragon's Dogma universe. I wouldn't be opposed to that as long as they maintain or expand upon the Dragon's Dogma combat. I started playing MH because I was told it had similarities to DD, but it's no where near as fun to play.

i would love to play this if it comes west.

I meant I hope it isn't rotten with microtransactions to the point where it's essentially pay to win. F2P can be executed well, as seen with DOTA 2 and LoL.

This is not Deep Down. Deep Down is Deep Down. It will be an online free-to-play game, though.

This is awesome news. This needs to come to the west. I'd totally be down to play a whole hell of a lot of this. If they maintain the combat from the original and let us just do that with other people online? Sold!

This... I had hope for a nice fleshed out world with the combat/graphics sharpened and story improved. This is the opposite direction, instead of fleshing out its expanding and hollowing and instead of not sinking into griffins we will probably be sinking in even more due to internet issues. Maybe it will just be Dark Souls inspired though so my worries about an MMO direction are for naught.

Bummer. I enjoyed Dragon's Dogma (and Dark Arisen) quite a bit. This doesn't sound like what I'm looking for in a sequel.

@demoskinos: Capcom UK told Eurogamer there are no plans to bring this outside of Japan.

I bet it'll be much like PSO2

If people in this territory want to play it, they'll find a way to play it.

Fuck.

I really like Dragons Dogma but I really didn't want to see it return as this.

Free to play? Interest gone immediately.

Capcom, why you so stupid?

Free to play??

No thanks, Capcom.

Man, that's really disappointing to hear. The original Dragon's Dogma was a frustrating masterpiece, one filled with enough flaws and bonkers game design to stop it from achieving greatness, but it still had a solid foundation in place to lead the way to an utterly superb sequel.

What's extra weird is how Capcom may now have two free-to-play games on the go... I guess this is their attempts at adapting to the new climate, similar to their experiments with episodic gaming via Revelations 2. Still, Deep Down should have been enough for their free-to-play market, and even then if anything you'd think that it would have been Deep Down to be the one exclusive to Japan, given that Dragon's Dogma is already a name people recognise over here and was also designed to replicate a western RPG with a Japanese tilt.

Maybe because it will be replete with abusive micro-transaction mechanisms. The Japanese have a masochistic streak when it comes to this kind of thing.

This bums me out to no end. I really want Dragons Dogma 2, like massively want it. I fear we will never get it now.

Deep Down still exists right?

I hope it comes to Europe and I hope the microtransactions aren't shitty. One of my main complaints with the original was that your party members were only bots with minor differences that you traded with other players, not some sort of co-op or fleshed out characters. This seems better. Sort of wasn't hoping for much with the story, they would never make party members with much emotional weight, so this is an improvement. I quite liked the main storyline in Dragon's Dogma, but the lore ultimately makes the story about circles and reincarnation and stuff. Got enough of that kind of story with Dark Souls 2, and it's probably for the best if they don't go that deep into it and have changed the setting completely.

I really want to play it.

@fredchuckdave: Maybe. They might end up being the same game, lol.

I'm surprised it's not on mobile.

This is... not what I wanted. I'd really like a Dragon's Dogma 2, Capcom.

Oh well. I just hope this MMO only allows players to communicate with canned phrases like "Tis weak to Fire!" and "There may be aught of use here" and "Strength in numbers Arisen" and of course "They're masterworks all, you can't go wrong."

HOLY SHIT A DRAGON'S DOGMA GAME COMING TO PC.

I don't even fuckin care if it's free-to-play. I play quite a few free-to-play games regularly without much issue, and unless this one is all "pay 5 bucks to access climbing on monsters" it can't be that bad. Of course, it could actually be that bad, but I'll wait until I hear more before bringing out my fuckin gloom-posts. Free-to-play isn't the same "deal-breaker" it was for a time there.

Going by that gameplay blurb from NeoGaf, this sounds fantastic.

A quick Google-search of those names associated indicates that all of those folks worked on Dragon's Dogma in fairly prominent positions. Minae Matsukawa was a co-producer, Horiyuki Kobayashi was producer, and Kento Kinoshita was lead gameplay designer.

Dammit! I hoped this was a sequel. Dragons Dogma is so good, disappointed by these news. I'm turned of by the MMO aspect and the pay pay pay aspect.

My biggest wish would be a sequel with all the content and a complete single player.

man I want more Dragon's Dogma so bad, but

Well I'll try to keep an open mind, but I don't trust Capcom enough to think they will create a F2P model that won't be incredibly atrocious.

.... I literally loved Dragon's Dogma so much I named it my game of the year two years in a row. I bought it like 3 times. Reading this announcement I feel like capcom just shot me in the gut and left me to die in a gutter. Seriously? A FTP microtransaction driven MMO? This is the exact opposite of what they should have done with Dogma. They should have fleshed out the game world, added a new region or two to explore, refined the combat a bit, maybe added some new classes, brought out the story more, and refined pawns a bit more. Instead we get a PSO look alike.

Life sucks. Or to put it in more traditional Dogma terminology. We are no longer flying into free, we are flying into shit.

I'm going to keep being that asshole hoping for an HD re-release. That being said If this was instead say, a pawn per player instead of a MAG like PSO they could at least take some of the more unique elements of DD and fuse it with an MMO.

Boo hiss! Dragon's Dogma was pretty awesome, if a bit rough around the edges. It had a lot of original ideas; something I wish more big budget titles had these days. This is the last thing I wanted to see done with it.

This. I also really want to play a Dragons Dogma 2. New environment, faster load times, no letterbox :)

How disappointing, I was really hoping they'd make a great sequel by improving on the previous game's shortcomings and reinforcing its strong points. Alas, instead we're going to get half a game filled with micro-transactions. I guess this means there won't be a real sequel to Dragon's Dogma. God damn it, I really hope that's not true... :(

Bummer. This could be a great game, but there's no way I'll engage with the setting/world with a hundred other Default Male 3's running around and fighting the things I was gonna fight. That's my own problem though, and more power to the people whose interests lie in this type of game as much as/more than the first.

Maybe they can use the online stuff to pull some class-A mindfuckery at the end of the game again.

Well this certainly looks Dragon Dogma-like, definitely not like what we've seen of Deep Down so far.

@slag: Gameplay and characters look straight out of Dragon's Dogma. Great!

Gonna keep an eye on this thing. Apparently it isn't officially confirmed for the west? That's a bit disconcerting.

Yes that appears to be correct, anticipated to be a 2015 release for Japan. No mention of the West whatsoever as of yet

I concur the game play looks the same. That being said it still appears to be a F2P MMO. Maybe if they release an offline version where the mobs don't have HP bloat?

Ok I might be getting excited for this. There may be aught of use here. Please don't let me down Capcom

couple new bullet points I saw from siliconera and a few other places

among other sources

http://www.siliconera.com/2015/01/28/dragons-dogma-online-will-eventually-three-times-larger-dragons-dogma/#ODiIue1WDKdgEKy1.99

• Game world is anticipated to be three times larger than Dragon's Dogma although initially it will be similar in size.
• You play as "the Awakened" not the Arisen
• No story or character connection to previous DD games, you play in Lestaria not Gransys
• "While it may be free-to-play, it will still have the essence of a proper Dragon’s Dogma game." -from Siliconera's translation of Famitsu
• Sony is working with Capcom on the game (and sounds like they are funding it), I'm guessing that means no XBone version.
• Pawns are returning, and maybe limited single player play (according to SE you can explore the world with your pawns)
• 4 player Parties will be constructed like traditional MMOs, while not mandatory you'll probably need Healer/DPS/Tank etc to be effective
• Confirmed jobs so far are Fighter, Hunter, Priest, and Shield Sage. http://gematsu.com/2015/01/dragons-dogma-online-free-play-title-ps4-ps3-pc#l29zHeDobeGi7xtC.99. No Strider?
• Also according to Gematsu DD's robust character creator is even more flexible in DDO

Also I confirmed Capcom registered Dragon's Dogma online with the US Patent & Trademark office on 12/4/14, as was mentioned in the neogaf thread.

@slag: Well if there is a single player, offline mode with pawns, then I might give it a shot.

I'm totally doped up for this.