Babylon’s Fall from PlatinumGames and Square Enix will likely go down as one of the worst games of 2022. Despite that, the developers are promising continued support for the live-service title.
“There are no plans to reduce the scale of development on Babylon’s Fall,” a statement in the latest set of patch notes reads. “Content up to the end of season 2 is now practically complete and we have started work on season 3 and beyond. We will continue to provide new content for the game and make improvements based on player feedback, striving to keep existing players playing and to attract newcomers.”
This multiplayer action game was released on March 3 and was immediately met with criticism over its ugly visuals and sluggish gameplay. Babylon’s Fall currently sits at a 39 on review aggregate site Metacritic and appears to have flopped on PC as the multiplayer-focused game only seems to ever have a player count in the hundreds. It’s a particularly disappointing release for PlatinumGames, which is known for strong single-player action games, though it may start to focus more on live-service titles in the future.
Publisher Square Enix now seems to be in damage control mode as it put out a survey asking players what they’d like to see improved and is now promising continued support in a post. The patch notes detail new content updates, explain the feedback-driven updates coming in late March and beyond, and tease a Nier: Automata collaboration event, but the developer and publisher’s promise to continue supporting the game is what sticks out the most.
Having to reassure players that your live-service isn’t shutting down just two weeks after launch isn’t a good look and speaks to the low state of the game. Square Enix has had a good track record with sticking with live-service games that had rocky launches like the original version of Final Fantasy XIV and Marvel’s Avengers. Still, there’s no doubt that those games aren’t great company for Babylon’s Fall to keep.
Babylon’s Fall is available now for PC, PS4, and PS5. Square Enix plans to release a demo of the game on Steam on March 23.
