Like some high-definition slow-motion capture of a car-crash (with HDR enabled on top), it’s been hard not to look away from the immediately dire state of a game likeBabylon’s Fall. More specifically, its very first month on the market, a period you would often associate with any respective game enjoying its most populated period. Regardless of how inevitable that drop-off might be – aided perhaps by the introduction of some new expansion, DLC or simply word-of-mouth that something has changed. It’s not everyday that a game’s first month of activity, on little more than its active player base, could so easily mistaken for its hundredth. Or that games with similar models of service — and more notoriety, justified or otherwise - are statistically doing better. For all the news and discussion and understandable criticisms a game likeBattlefield 2042has been getting since its own launch last November, to think DICE’s own efforts as of late can be perceived as “better” than what PlatinumGames and Square Enix have cooked up, is telling.
Released on March 3, Babylon’s Fall already had a tepid expectation going in. A game initially perceived (and maybe conceived on the development side, we might never know) as your typical but enjoyable slice of hack-and-slash combat Platinum have been known for, a period of silence followed by an unusual rebranding of its being a “live service” model had plenty immediately raising the red flag. Those concerns weren’t fully unwarranted though; following on from two separate closed beta’s last Summer, the most forgiving view held was that players were “mixed” on the experience. The more negative comments, would you believe, centering on the [at the time] presentation. Specifically its visual style and the desired aesthetic of resembling an oil painting. The developers even taking to social media todirectly address this feedback, even showing a supposed before and after of how Babylon’s Fall would look at release. Yes, you heard that right: the game would’ve looked worse than how it actually ended up had the community not stepped in and addressed it. And if you’ve read any reviews of the game, what we ended up with, couldn’t exactly considered better. Thus, one of many major issues that when accumulated, resulted in the game launching out of the gate in an utterly dire state.
At the time of writing this article, the game sits at a generally-negative 46on MetaCriticor more dismal 1.5 (out of 10) if user reviews are your preferred metric. But it’s the active player-count of a game of this ilk — and a studio as beloved as PlatinumGames — that is perhaps the biggest indicator of just how far this game has failed to appease and convince of its intentions. According to Steam Charts, which tracks concurrent player count across all games available on the platform, since its launch at the beginning of March, Babylon’s Fall hasstruggledto maintain even a thousand players at any one time. Its peak, less than day after launch, could only muster 1,166 players. For comparison, the heavily-criticized Battlefield 2042 — a game whose own beta period resulted in many a compilation of bugs, glitches and performance issues — is faring better. For a game where guns, for a time, weren’t even shooting properly, Battlefield was still on average managing around 2,000 players. It’s currently sitting at 1,700 players. A massive fall-off from its 100,000 starting point sure, but Babylon’s Fall just about mustered a hundredth of that at its own launch. And if you wanted to restrict comparisons solely to that of other Square Enix-published live-service titles, even Marvel’s Avengers is in a better spot. Even if “better” equatesto around 400 players averageon a daily basis.
But it doesn’t end there. Babylon’s Fall’s success (or lack thereof) has been so dire that on the evening of April 12, a grand total of…wait for it…eight people were playing the game on PC. No, I’m not making that up: eight. As in, two less than ten. PlatinumGames – beloved for their action-orientated games – are lucky to find more than a hundred people engaging with their content on PC. Not even the allure of a collaboration with NieR: Automata – via a limited-time event – that is celebrated for its multi-million base signaled a change in fortune. Unless of course a temporary uptick of roughly 500 players is what you consider sufficient change in that regard. I would be sad, not least for a studio whose work I like (maybe love) at the best of times, but you needn’t spend long in the confusing world and gameplay progression of Babylon’s Fall to get an idea on just why this game has failed to find an audience. At a time when the “rush it out now; fix it later maybe” attitude is so often tied to these types of games, it’s telling when a game like Battlefield 2042 has more chance at turning it around.
Not least when DICE, the game’s developer, continue topublish new updatesand while nothing regarding new content is spoken of, there’s at least some effort to right the wrong’s that 2042 launched in. It’s still possible, naive as that may sound. Even if, some may remind me, the writing is already on the wall. So then, do Platinum do the same: is the antidote to hop on this same peculiar roadmap-like promoting of “updates” and “fixes” to claw back player trust. A trajectory that, let’s be honest, shouldn’t even exist to begin with. But here’s the problem: who will Platinum and Square even be speaking to on that hypothetical road-map of patch updates and promises of future content? The dozen or so active users on top of whoever else is grinding through on PS4 and PS5 platforms? Is it a case then of cutting one’s losses – is Babylon’s Fall ultimately doomed before it really gets going? Not least when Square Enix, the game’s publisher has not one, but two struggling live service title to contend with.
This very much is one of those kinds of stories, events, scenarios you really don’t want to see surface. Yet for whatever reason, can’t help but keep track of to see just how much worse or egregious said scenario ends up getting. While I, like so many I’m sure, take no pleasure in seeing PlatinumGames and Square Enix too (as seemingly at home they tend to be given recent years’ output) stumble into such unfavorable lows, perhaps Babylon’s Fall’s inevitable failing is that unnecessary evil we need. A reminder – that will fall on deaf ears, the more cynical realist in me predicts – that this model of game remains incredibly difficult to get right. And even more difficult to sustain. How many years did it take Bungie for there to be a modicum of positive feeling around Destiny 2?
To borrow words from my own review, it’s astonishing at just how bad of a state Babylon’s Fall has released in and how little there is to cheer in hopes things will improve. This isn’t some pretentious, obscure title from a little-known studio nor a dire miscalculation on an established if relatively-niche series. It’s not even an attempt to resurrect old ideas at the cost of modern-day sensibility. And now, just over a mere month after launch, we have arguably one of the most woeful outcomes in its seemingly non-existent active player-base. In a game that reeks of that mindless “live service” slog, but doesn’t stop there. A game that looks bad [still, even after feedback], plays bad and has the audacity to charge full retail price for such displeasure. Can Platinum turn it around, can they pull a Destiny if you will? Something tells me the already-dismal player base is enough of an answer. Any and all future talk of Babylon’s Fall either from myself or anyone else more likely to be confined to year’s end discussion.
