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Sega's new online RPG is also coming to iPhone and Android.

The free to play business model for video games has really come into its own as of late. No longer an indication of poor quality or the last ditch effort by a publisher to turn a profit on a flagging property, free to play is changing the way people look at their electronic entertainment. More and more, larger studios are experimenting with the free to play model. We already got a story today about Syndicate developer Starbreeze moving in this direction, and now you can count Sega in this category with Phantasy Star Online 2.

First announced in 2010 for the PC in Japan, PSO 2 has since had a PlayStation Vita port in the works. In another very real example of the changing landscape in the games industry, the game will also see release for iOS and Android smartphones. No word on the game coming to tablets, but with the release of the new iPad, these popular devices are beginning to rival the current consoles.

With Phantasy Star Online 2 slated for smartphones, the announcement of the game going free to play begins to make a lot of sense. Many of the most popular games on the platform excel because of the ability for large quantities of players to try the game out with no risk, and if they like it enough they can buy whatever content matches their playstyle the best.

Phantasy Star Online was released for the Dreamcast back in 2000 for the Japanese market. There was no monthly fee to play the game beyond the Sega Net account that was used to play games online. A pseudo sequel for consoles called Phantasy Star Universe was released in 2006 and was controversial at the time for having a monthly fee like most MMOs.

Phantasy Star Online 2 is slated for release on Japanese PCs this summer. The smartphone version is set to come out by the end of the year, with the PS Vita version coming in the Spring of 2013. So far the game has not been announced for a North American release.