We already knew it was coming thanks to a brisk tease and subsequent announcement last year, but it looks like a proper Planet Zoo 2 unveiling could be imminent if an update to the series’ official YouTube page is any indication.
The original Planet Zoo launched back in 2019, building upon the success of Frontier Developments’ theme-park-flavoured Planet Coaster with a fresh bout of management action, this time focussed on animals rather than giant metallic vomit machines. And it was good! Bringing some welcome depth to the ‘Planet’ formula as park building and tycoon-ery collided with animal acquisition, breeding, care, and enrichment.
As for a potential sequel, Frontier teased it was in the works last November, cheekily sticking the number ‘2’ at the end of a Planet Zoo six-year anniversary video. And just in case that was too subtle, it was far more explicit about it in a subsequent news post, writing, “We are delighted to reveal that we are hard at work on a sequel to Planet Zoo” and that it was looking forward to “sharing more with you next year!”
And lo, the studio has now updated its official Planet Zoo YouTube channel with an olive-hued Planet Zoo 2 logo which tells us precisely nothing beyond the fact the series is sticking to chronological naming conventions. It does, however, suggest Frontier is readying for a proper unveiling sometime soon. When? That remains a mystery for now, but seeing as we’re only a week or so away from this year’s Summer Games Fest, my money’s on… sometime then.
Planet Zoo 2’s arrival follows 2024’s disappointing Planet Coaster 2, which was so barebones at launch it mostly felt like a cynical framework for DLC. However, Frontier faced a community backlash so severe after attempting to flog an undernourished DLC pack less than a month later, it retreated to focus on a roadmap of free updates that left the game in substantially better shape. Hopefully lessons have been learned for this Planet Zoo sequel, and it doesn’t seem like it’ll be long before we find out.
