Frontier confirms new Planet game, with a completely fresh setting

Frontier Developments has made its clearest move yet to turn Planet into a wider franchise rather than a pair of hit sub-series. The company has confirmed work on a brand-new Planet game with a completely new setting, and it is not being positioned as another Planet Zoo or Planet Coaster sequel. For sim players, that matters because Frontier is keeping the same management DNA while deliberately stepping away from the wildlife park and theme-park lanes that defined the brand so far.

That wording is doing a lot of work. Frontier says the project still combines creativity, management and meaningful simulation, which is a direct signal that the studio expects the core Planet audience to follow it even if the subject matter changes. In other words, Frontier is not just chasing a familiar logo for the sake of it. It is testing whether Planet itself can stand as a commercial platform, with the setting becoming the variable and the management loop remaining the constant.

The timing reinforces that reading. Frontier’s June 9 trading update showed FY26 revenue of £104.8 million, up 16% year on year, with adjusted operating profit of about £19.0 million, up 44%. It also said almost 90% of revenue came from CMS games, up from 77% in FY25, and reported cash of £44.0 million at 31 May 2026. That is the kind of balance sheet and genre concentration that makes a safer but broader franchise play look attractive.

The company’s recent results also explain why it is leaning so hard into this lane. Frontier said Planet Coaster franchise revenue rose by almost 200% after Planet Coaster 2 launched in November 2024 on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. Planet Zoo revenue also grew 2% in FY25 after Planet Zoo: Console Edition arrived in March 2024. Alongside Jurassic World Evolution, those franchises accounted for 77% of total revenue in FY25, making CMS not just a successful category but the center of Frontier’s business.

The new Planet project also appears to be several years away, with some coverage placing it in Frontier’s FY28 pipeline. It was first surfaced by Richard Stephenson, Frontier’s head of player engagement, on Discord before the financial update made it official, which fits a company that is comfortable seeding big franchise news through community channels before the marketing machine fully turns over.

For Frontier, the message is simple: the studio is not abandoning the formula that revived its fortunes. It is trying to widen it, and the fact that Planet now looks like an umbrella brand says as much about where Frontier thinks sim players are headed as it does about the next game itself.