Every few months, the game is reset, at which point winners are declared and a new round of play starts, commonly with a number of new features and updates to keep the gameplay balanced.
In the past, these speedgames have been run at LAN events such as The Gathering in Norway and the Multiplay i-Series in the United Kingdom, and have also been used for competitions such as the Planetarion World Cup.
Whilst originally free, the crash of the dotcom bubble also meant a decline in advertising revenue for Fifth Season AS, the Norwegian company behind Planetarion.
[4] In August 2013, Jagex allowed a newly formed company called Ranul Tech Ltd the licence to operate and manage the game, whilst still maintaining ownership.
[5] In July 2021, in reaction to the impending shutdown of the Netgamers IRC network, Planetarion migrated to Discord for its official communications.
PC Zone described the gameplay as having a "charm and subtle addiction that is a pleasant change of pace" and highlighted the quality of support available for the game via volunteer staffed IRC channels.
[6] Michael Dougherty reviewed Planetarion on 28 August 2007 and awarded a score of 7.0/10, stating that "if you sit in front of your PC twitching uncontrollably when you do not kill a PC/NPC or blow something up on a regular basis then this is definitely not the game for you.