Square Enix and PlatinumGames’ poorly received Babylon’s Fall will be shutting down on 27th February 2023, the online multiplayer action RPG lasting less than a year after release. Future updates have been canned, the sale of microtransaction currency has been stopped, and the game will be going onto life support after the end of Season 2 in November.
Here’s the statement from the Babylon’s Fall site:
Greetings Sentinel Force,
Thank you very much for playing Babylon’s FallWith 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. However, it is with deep regret to inform you that we will be terminating the game’s service on February 27, 2023.
As a result, we will also cancel the large-scale updates that we had planned. In terms of the plan moving forward, Season 2 will run until Tuesday, November 29, 2022, as scheduled, and the Final Season will begin with the maintenance scheduled on the same day. This Final Season is the period during which you can earn the ranking rewards of Season 2.
As a way of expressing our gratitude to all our players, we plan to implement as many events and other initiatives as we can, leading up to the end of the service.
While there had been some hopes that PlatinumGames could turn the game around as a live service, the writing was on the wall pretty much from day one. It struggled to gain any kind of momentum at launch with peak player counts on Steam under 1000, excessive monetisation alongside the opening £59.99 price tag, and dated graphics that were derided in critical reviews and the courts of public opinion. It seems clear that the launch of Season 2 in May did nothing to arrest the fall.
That will be the last content drop for the game, with Season 2 ending on 29th November as planned, leading into the Final Season, which is just a way to let you earn Season 2’s ranking rewards. PlatinumGames will at least be trying to run as many events and other initiatives as they can up until the game’s demise.
Further Reading: Why is Babylon’s Fall struggling on release day?
Babylon’s Fall did not fare well in our review. In it Aran wrote, “Babylon’s Fall is just dull, repetitive and ultimately forgettable. The combat at the game’s core so simple and lacking in challenge, especially if you have a full team. We all know that PlatinumGames are capable of games so much more than this, and Square Enix should probably step back from their live service efforts, because they simply haven’t cracked it.”
Source: Babylon’s Fall