Planet Coaster 2 Franchise Mode Explained: Play Guide

How Franchise Mode Works

Planet Coaster 2 franchise mode explained in one sentence: build and manage a park empire, collaborate through shared saves, and compete on worldwide leaderboards. You can play alone or work with friends across platforms, with one player editing a given park at a time. Understanding that handoff matters because saving your park locally and publishing changes have different effects on what your teammates can access.

A franchise brings multiple parks under your management. Alongside building coasters, pools, and themed areas, you can tackle challenges and explore other players’ parks through first-person POV.

The collaboration works through alternating building sessions. You might construct an entrance, upload your progress, and then let a friend develop the next area. Sandbox also supports building together through a shared save; Franchise adds competition against other franchises.

Official page: Planet Coaster 2 (planetcoaster.com)

How to Create or Join a Franchise

Select Franchise Mode from the main menu. From there, you can access franchises you already belong to, search for another franchise, or review membership requests.

Create Your Own Franchise

Open Your Franchises, then select New Franchise. The setup includes four fields:

• Franchise Name: Choose a name without profanity.
• Franchise Profile: Select tags describing your interests, play style, activity level, and openness to new members.
• Membership: Choose whether membership is invitation-only or whether players can request to join.
• Franchise Code: Keep the randomly generated code or generate a different one.

Use the profile tags to communicate what kind of project you want. If you want a relaxed building collaboration, make that clear before recruiting people who are focused on leaderboard competition.

After completing the franchise details, choose your starting location and name your first park.

Join Another Player’s Franchise

Open Search and enter a franchise name, a friend’s franchise code, or keywords to find a group.

The Requests section lets you review your outgoing membership requests. Franchise owners can also use it to review requests from players who want to join.

Before joining, read the profile tags and membership settings. Match your expectations with the group’s goals, especially if you plan to spend long sessions detailing buildings while others want to concentrate on challenges.

Choose Your Starting Location Carefully

Your starting location cannot be changed later. It affects more than the scenery surrounding your entrance.

Locations can differ in:

• Starting Park Currency.
• Starting Research Points.
• Location effects and guest behavior.
• The number of parks you can manage.

Those differences influence your opening decisions. A location with more starting resources might also bring guest behavior that requires a different mix of attractions and amenities.

Review every location’s details before committing. For a straightforward introduction, choose balanced conditions with regular guest behavior. If you select a location with unusual guest needs, plan your opening facilities around those needs.

Keep the longer project in mind, too. Since the location determines how many parks you can manage, discuss that choice with your collaborators before creating the franchise.

Shared Saves, Uploads, and Editing Locks

The most important handoff is Upload Changes. A regular save preserves your work locally, while uploading shares the latest changes with your collaborators.

Option or status	What it means
Save Park	Saves locally without sharing the changes; the park remains marked Editing Locked.
Upload Changes	Publishes the latest changes for other players to access.
Pending Edit	Indicates that another franchise member has made edits to the park.
Revert Local Changes	Returns your local park to the last uploaded version.

An editing lock protects the current building session. If a collaborator has saved without publishing, another member cannot simply continue from those unpublished changes.

The Revoke Editing Lock button is available through Manage Park. Revoking a lock lets another member edit, but it can discard work from the previous editing session. Contact the current builder before using it.

Hand Off a Park Clearly

When your turn is finished:

1. Select Upload Changes to share your progress.
2. Add a message explaining what you changed.
3. Tell the next builder about unfinished areas or issues that need attention.

Make the message useful: “Entrance plaza finished; the new ride still needs its queue connected” gives the next person a clear starting point.

If you intend to return to an unfinished session yourself, use Save Park and tell your teammates why the park is still locked. That helps prevent someone from revoking the lock while you still have work to publish.

Manage Each Park’s Resources Separately

Each park has its own Park Currency and Research Points. Keep track of the park you are currently editing when planning construction and research.

Before spending, inspect its finances, available research, utilities, and guest needs. A new attraction also needs the supporting infrastructure to operate.

Use the management tools to guide your next changes:

• Check power heat maps before expanding into a new area.
• Inspect guest needs to identify problems with hunger, thirst, toilets, or entertainment.
• Review staffing and facilities alongside your ride plans.
• Plan pool support together, including lifeguards, changing rooms, water treatment, shade, and sunscreen.

For a shared build, include major spending and research decisions in your upload message. Give the next builder enough context to continue the park’s development without undoing your plans.

Use Franchise and Park Management Tools

Franchise-wide administration and individual park management have separate menus.

In Franchise Management, the dashboard tracks recent activity. The Members tab lists your collaborators and provides management controls, including removing members or transferring the manager role. Requests handles incoming membership requests, while Settings lets you change the franchise name, tags, and membership rules.

For an individual park, open Manage Park. Its dashboard shows logs and recent changes, along with Revert Local Changes. The Park Members tab handles park membership and manager controls.

Park Settings includes options to transfer the park to Sandbox, delete it, or end the collaboration. Read those options carefully before choosing one, particularly when other builders still have plans for the park.

Challenges, Leaderboards, and Park Visits

Franchise challenges rank parks against specific conditions. A challenge might focus on the amount of cash a park holds, so read the objective before deciding where to invest your effort. Completing challenges also awards prizes.

Build your strategy around the challenge you are pursuing. For a cash-focused objective, review income and operating costs before committing to another expensive attraction.

The leaderboard also gives you a way to explore competing franchises. Select a franchise name to examine its parks, then visit through first-person POV.

During a visit, follow the route from the entrance to the attractions. Look at how paths connect busy areas, where amenities sit, and how scenery frames the rides. Use those details to plan a specific improvement for your next building session.