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PlatinumGames has said it is "extremely sorry" about the fate of its live service game, Babylon's Fall, after Square Enix announced its closure earlier this month.
After emphasizing that he couldn't talk freely about Babylon's Fall due to its publishing contract with Square Enix, PlatinumGames' CEO Atsushi Inaba told VGC that he accepted that the decision to shut down the game just a year after it launched "triggered some disappointment, maybe even anger" with its players.
"The only thing we can comment on here in terms of the closure of the Babylon’s Fall service itself, is that this unfortunate conclusion might have been something that had triggered some disappointment, perhaps maybe even anger, to our dedicated fans and players," he said.
"And any disappointment that we might have caused for our fan base is something we feel extremely sorry about, the fact that we led our dedicated fans to feel that way as a developer. Providing any sentiment other than enjoyment and fun in our creations to players is something that we’re not very happy about at all as a developer."
Interestingly, Inaba said the failure hadn't changed the studio's upcoming plans, including those relating to live service development.
"There’s a lot that we learned from this experience, and it’s not changed our future plans or outlook moving forward regarding doing live service games at all. Live service games are definitely something we do want to do and put our effort in moving forward," he said.
Square Enix announced it was ending service on Babylon’s Fall just one year after launch a couple of weeks back.
The publisher confirmed that you’ll be able to play the action-RPG up until February 27, 2023, but "large-scale updates" the team had planned have been canceled, and the roadmap has been adjusted accordingly. Season 2 will run until November 29, with the Final Season kicking off following a maintenance period.
"With the desire of delivering an exhilarating online multiplayer action RPG set in an elaborate high fantasy world, we launched the game’s official service on Thursday, March 3, 2022, and have continued to undertake additional development and operations," the developers said at the time. "However, it is with deep regret to inform you that we will be terminating the game’s service on February 27, 2023."
The initial pitch behind Babylon’s Fall was a gameplay experience not unlike Nier: Automata - as developed by Platinum Games itself - with more live-service sensibilities. While the developers pledged to improve Babylon’s Fall in various following a period in beta, the action RPG failed to find an audience in the year it launched.
There are plenty of big titles on our upcoming PS5 games and upcoming Xbox Series X games lists that may soften the blow of losing Babylon's Fall.
