PlayStation console exclusive game Babylon's Fall is officially shutting down at 11pm PT on February 27. Babylon's Fall was developed by acclaimed studio PlatinumGames and published by world-renowned publisher Square Enix, yet that wasn't enough for it to draw much of an audience.
Babylon's Fall was designed as a live service game for PC, PS4, and PS5. While live service games can be hugely lucrative when they're successful, the long line of failed live service games prove that they are always a massive gamble for those involved. Babylon's Fall had abysmal sales and that meant barely anyone was even playing the game, to the point where there was literally one concurrent player on Steam mere months after its initial release.
With Babylon's Fall struggling big-time with sales and player retention, the writing was on the wall for Platinum's live service experiment. The announcement was made that Babylon's Fall servers would be shutting down, with the shut-down scheduled to take place Monday, February 27 at 11:00pm PT. This won't impact many players, as Babylon's Fall was pulled from sale last year.
Not only did Babylon's Fall digital sales end, but retailers like GameStop even pulled the physical version off store shelves. One would think that the massive failure of the game would deter Platinum from making more live service games in the future, but that's apparently not the case.
In fact, Platinum still wants to make live service games despite Babylon's Fall's failures. If such a project ever materializes, it will be interesting to see how a future PlatinumGames live-service project differs from Babylon's Fall. Perhaps the game would go the free-to-play route like many other live service titles do, or maybe it will try to leverage one of Platinum's existing IPs to draw in more players.
Babylon's Fall was a flop, but PlatinumGames isn't going anywhere any time soon. In the same year it released Babylon's Fall, Platinum also launched Sol Cresta and Bayonetta 3, two projects that were far better-received. As far as future projects go, Bayonetta spin-off game Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon is scheduled to launch on March 17, while the studio also has a mysterious project in the works called Project G.G. Rumor has it that the canceled Xbox exclusive Scalebound may even be making a comeback of some kind, so fans of the studio should have plenty to look forward to in the years ahead.
Babylon's Fall was available for PC, PS4, and PS5.
