There was a one-month gap between the Japanese and North American releases of Phantasy Star Online, and about a four-month gap in the case of its Version 2 successor. Phantasy Star Online 2, the long-awaited sequel, on the other hand, was first released in Japan in July 2012 and is still not available outside of Asia. If you've begun to lose hope that the game will ever see the light of day in the West, Sega has reassured fans that it is still coming, though the company continues to refuse to say when that might happen.

Referencing the fact that it's now been a year since the official PSO2 Facebook account was last updated, a fan sent a tweet this week to Sega about the game's continued absence in the West. The official Sega account replied, saying, "PSO2 is still delayed. SEGA is currently working on bringing PSO2 to the West and will update as soon as we know more."

Insignificant as that reassurance might be, I know I'm happy to hear it as someone who adored the original PSO but, like many others, found its successors (Phantasy Star Universe, in particular) lacking.

The free-to-play PSO2 was originally slated for release on PC in Japan in 2011 before slipping until 2012. It has since been ported to Vita (last year), as well as Android and iOS (this spring)--again, only in Japan. A 2013 release for North America and Europe was announced in mid-2012, only for the game to be delayed in early 2013 without any reason (or new release window) being specified.

To date, the only region where the game has been released is southeast Asia; the game was released in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines earlier this year.

We still have no explanation for the game's absence in the West. It's not as if it's turned out to be a dud--despite recording an operating loss in the quarter ended June 30, Sega noted that PSO2 had been an especially strong performer.

After how long we've had to wait, are you still interested in PSO2? What platform would you most like to play it on? Let us know in the comments below.