The studio’s CEO is “extremely sorry” to have to shut down the PS5’s second-worst game

The action RPG Babylon’s Fall is discontinued just one year after its launch. The CEO of developer Platinum Games apologized to fans in an interview for the disappointment, but insisted that the devs “learned a lot”.

What kind of game is this? Babylon’s Fall was developed by the Platinum Games studio and celebrated its release on February 28, 2022. The developer is best known and loved for their action-packed games such as Bayonetta and Nier: Automata. Accordingly, Babylon’s Fall is an action RPG.

However, its launch was not under a good star: After it was announced at E3 2021 that the game would be a live service game with microtransactions, criticism rained down. The subsequent beta tests could not convince the players of Babylon’s Fall either.

The game launched on Steam with just 1,166 players at its all-time peak and has since dropped to just one active player. Babylon’s Fall received a scathing rating of 46 from critics on Metacritic. In PS5 games, it is only undercut by the 34 points of eFootball 2022.

“We are very sorry for the disappointment we caused”

This is what the CEO says: In September, it was announced that Babylon’s Fall would be taken offline again on March 3, 2023, almost a year after launch. In an interview with videogamechronicle.com Platinum Games CEO Atsushi Inaba spoke about the shutdown for the first time since the announcement:

[…] The disappointment we’ve caused our fanbase is something we’re extremely sorry for. […] We as developers are not very happy if we don’t bring joy or fun to the players with our creations. […]

But despite the fiasco, the CEO wants to maintain the company’s current course. He plans to produce more live service games in the future, but they’re learning from Babylon’s Fall’s mistakes. “Nothing has changed at all” in the plans.

There’s a lot we’ve learned from this experience, and it doesn’t change at all our plans for the future or our outlook on developing live service games. It’s definitely something we want to do and will strive for in the future. […]

There are two pillars, so to speak, that we can take a closer look at in our development team. The first is the sheer fun of core gameplay mechanics found in live service games. The second is to run the live service. I think these two pillars must be strongly connected internally. […]

There are these reactions: In one of the biggest gaming subreddits r/games the news that Platinum plans to continue producing live service games was met with little enthusiasm. The developer is known and loved by fans above all for their bombastic and action-packed single-player titles.

The skepticism about the move towards live service was already loud before the release of Babylon’s Fall. After the flop, the players now feel confirmed in their opinion.

• “It’s crazy that they are planning more live service games. I don’t know why anyone would trust you after this.” – paperDisgrace
• “Very disappointing to hear that they plan to throw more resources towards live service projects. […]”- 197639495050
• “So it’s not a real excuse?” – SmoothCriminalJM

There were some voices who expressed regret about the shutdown of Babylon’s Fall and also enjoyed the game. Individual suggestions were also made for interesting live service concepts for Platinum, such as a multiplayer Vanquish game.

However, the majority of commentators were disappointed that Platinum Games is looking to stay the course.

What are your thoughts on Platinum wanting to deliver more live service games? After Babylon’s Fall, would you give the developer a second chance? Tell us in the comments.