The Disastrous Fall of Babylon’s Fall

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Triple-A game publishers have always chased the success of the industry’s latest trends, a phenomenon that inspired the creation of an exorbitant number of Grand Theft Auto clones throughout the sixth and seventh console generations. On occasion, such thinking has born good fruit, evidenced in PUBG’s quick claim to fame influencing everything from Fortnite Battle Royale to Call of Duty: Warzone. But on the flip side, pursuing popular trends runs the risk of stifling creativity and alienating players, a recipe for disaster that has taken many once-ambitious endeavors to an early grave. This Square Enix learned the hard way upon publishing Babylon’s Fall.
The online-only adventure from Bayonetta creator PlatinumGames marked one of Square Enix’s many attempts to broaden its reach in the live-service space, whose persistent revenue streams has significantly boosted many a company’s bottom line. While Babylon’s Fall seemed to feature the hallmarks of a quality service game with its proven development team and compelling gameplay mechanics, it launched with few redeeming qualities, resulting in catastrophic review scores and a rapidly dwindling player base.
Platinum maintained focus throughout the rough start, deploying and developing new content for what should’ve been a lengthy life cycle for Babylon’s Fall on PC and PlayStation. To cut its losses, Square Enix pulled the plug far earlier than anticipated, robbing developers of any chance to salvage the project. Thus, what began as Platinum bringing its signature style to the burgeoning games-as-a-service model concluded with what may go down as one of the studio’s least memorable outings.
This is the tragedy of Babylon’s Fall.
#BabylonsFall
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[@thecandlemaker1329]

The real tragedy is the very existence of "games as a service".

[@KenKaneki.]

Especially if you Charge triple A prices. If babylons fall would be free to play or 10$ Max. It would be better

[@ChaosPootato]

Maybe after so many failures AAA studios will get the message, we can only hope

[@soylencer]

​@@ChaosPootato Square has been greenlighting underperforming trash for almost a decade. They keep trying to tap into their Final Fantasy fans to buy literally anything else, but they've stopped trying to make original products (Power Wash Simulator notwithstanding).

[@ChaosPootato]

​@@soylencer Can you believe the company behind Final fucking Fantasy gets you hyped with hosing down motor homes and skateparks... How low they've fallen...

[@soylencer]

@@ChaosPootato what I meant by that is that is that Power Wash Simulator is something unique, that they took a chance on. That's a good thing. And many people actually enjoy that game; I'm sure I would if I had gotten to play it yet. Sometimes games can just be simple goofy fun. Square is trying too hard to recreate FF with a different franchise and a bunch of janky generic JRPGs.

[@Dr.Strangelewd]

"Cheap-ass looking $60 live service game with cash shop, battle pass and other microtransactions? SIGN ME THE HELL UP!" - expected reaction of an average gamer, according to Square Enix

[@Aggnog]

They would have succeeded if it had NFTs.

[@GetsugaTensho85]

@@Aggnog NFTs gotta be the dumbest thing created, the fact that there was genuine forethought and afterthought (at least initially) put into it just seems to make it worse.

[@Vianyte]

@@Aggnog LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

[@StateOfTheMind11225]

You can say that but have you seen the apathetic casual audiences especially for FIFA and COD?

[@awdrifter3394]

@@Aggnog Bored Ape DLC.

[@bradley163]

I honestly completely forgot about Babylon's Fall. It's amazing how quickly these "AAA" titles from the biggest publishers in the industry make their debut, and disappear just as quickly, if not quicker. Especially so when they insist on centering the entire core of the title around the "live service" model.

[@SLRModShop]

Still amazes me how when a new game appears, everyone wants it now as if their life depended on it, and a week later, the game or even outright console is already old news... PSVR2 is a week old and already irrelevant. I'd argue that the SteamDeck is already irrelevant too. The XSX and PS5 too to some extent. Even Dead space, that game just released, it's old news already. In fact, the games that remained in the public consciousness the longest lately are... Fallout 76 and CyberPunk 2077... That's crazy when you think about it. If you want your game to be a cultural phenomenon rather than an "ultra-consumerist want", you need to release it utterly broken. Callisto Protocol was 3 bugs away from staying in the news cycle for 2 entire weeks! If it had no bug, it would have been dead on day 2... He was just buggy enough to be talked about for 6 days... Now it's 60% off on Amazon... Next o Dead Space, which is already 30% off... Crazy times...

[@exysa2798]

Cyberpunk 2077 is the biggest. Everyone hates Cyberpunk and No one is playing it too.

[@Vesperitis]

You know what games I'm still playing years later? Dead Cells, Slay the Spire, and Hades. Great games created by great indie studios. Can't put them down, and won't need to because the challenge and game design are practically perfect. I see a AAA live service and I avoid it like the plague.

[@MrEp5]

the flow of information is too quick. the markets saturated. how do you keep people engaged in these times?

[@canadademon]

It used Epic Online Services and EAC. Instantly a miss for me. Squeenix needs to go get a life.

[@Pers0n97]

The 2015-2025 will be known as the lost decade of live service, the awful business model that sucked up the energy of the gaming industry for far too long and killed a lot of potential great project.

[@baalikalalalika402]

MESSAGE

[@thechugg4372]

They will be remembered as the decade of lost game media for a loooong loong time

[@Cherokee_Ryu]

Actually this period will be known as the Decade that gaming FINALLY went mainstream. More gamers than ever flocked to Live Service games, and the future is better for All Gamers.

[@user-is2mj2ig4v]

@@Cherokee_Ryu if its better why are most of the games shit nowdays

[@PenguinDT]

@@Cherokee_Ryu 'More gamers than ever flocked to Live Service games' reminds me of an old saying; 'Billion flies can't be wrong; faeces must be delicious!'.

[@offlinegamer6756]

every time a "game as service" is falling , a gate to hell is being closed !

[@admiralkaede]

not all live services are bad some are really good this just wasnt one of them

[@offlinegamer6756]

@@admiralkaede you are a part of the problem so !

[@ihatecabbage7270]

@@admiralkaede There is only a limited amount of people in that market pool. Online Only Garbage is best when is dead.

[@admiralkaede]

@@ihatecabbage7270 your opnion but I don't really enjoy single player only games as well

[@DevilOfRoses]

@@admiralkaede You can have multiplayer games that aren't live services though.

[@thenegromancer4695]

The fact that the combat in the CLOSED BETA version of Babylon's fall didn't even look like the first gameplay trailer I knew it would fail miserably.enemies barely react to attacks as well making launchers non existent.

[@mattm7798]

Yeah, the combat felt like an action mmo rather than a single player game with multiplayer elements...and mmo can get away with this because of the mmo part...a GaaS game can't.

[@Marinealver]

All these live service games have been giving Nerd Slayer a lot of content for his Death of a Game Series.

[@Mintcar923]

OMG I was just thinking of that channel

[@nosherkhan3232]

Looks like we're all going to be playing detective for a while.

[@Zaczac111]

At this point, it’s like a old style gangster rolled up in front of the restaurant all these live service games were eating at and unloaded a Chicago Typewriter into the store. So many deaths, with only a few escaping relatively unharmed.

[@0uttaS1TE]

@@nosherkhan3232 I can hear the Detective Conan theme already

[@roahnosh]

Fiscal year

[@SourRobo8364]

This is why I despise online only games. They eventually die and are lost to time. They can be good, they can be bad, but eventually no one can play them.

[@fabledorchid8410]

I find that online only games deserve to exist alongside offline games just as well, as long as developers intend and plan to open source or allow for private servers when the service gets shut down.

[@admiralkaede]

i dont i mean warhawk was only online but the fanbase has kept it alive with even fan servers when the official ones shut down I only really play online games myself never played this one tho

[@trk1b28varianrhesa4]

it's just a normal evolution of media. most people play games with their friends so it's only logical that free to play live service games became popular.

[@experience_point6233]

I don't play online only games.

[@admiralkaede]

@@experience_point6233 cool i do

[@bkslsh]

1 concurrent user has to be painful to see as a AAA developer with so much time and money invested in the project. TBH, I had never heard of this game until this video. Completely flew under my radar.

[@A1stardan]

Good

[@mrxcs]

Imagine the mood of the company, 4 years, million of dollars, 1 person playing. Basically no one would want to work with them anymore. This game may kill Platinum.

[@meaninglez100]

Going through this, witnessing the cancellation of many live service games at once, and how few of these styled games actually survive in general. It's surprising to hear that they want to try it again. It's like the MMO boom a while back. Everyone wants a piece of the pie, but most of it's already been eaten

[@LordKilmir]

The MMO boom is a good example because despite WoW's initial dominance, there were still plenty that do very well. Black Desert Online, FFXIV, Runescape, Lost Ark, Elder Scrolls Online are all happily trudging along and beating WoW numbers these days. The studio stating the areas they want to fix and try again gives me hope they'll come up with a genre defining game.

[@acupoflatte8594]

​@@LordKilmir Those aren't plenty, when you take into account the sheer amount of MMORPGs, MMOLites, MMOesque etc etc that barely make it off the ground, if at all. If we were to liken it to a war, the amount of deaths would rival the worst of genocides.

[@lelagrangeeffectphysics4120]

@@acupoflatte8594 and that just shows most of "boom games" only have space for maybe....3-4 titles in their space, its basicly a tug of war for winner takes it all

[@losbloontas]

​@@lelagrangeeffectphysics4120 if you can have a realistic scope of not having everyone play your game, you can make a much better game people will want to play

[@lelagrangeeffectphysics4120]

@@losbloontas Another thing i saw is that most if not all mobile devs urge others to use GLES2 instead of GLES3, do you know what the % of phones dont support GLES 3? 10% Mobile game devs are willing to lower the quality of gameplay of almost everybody so that they can get another 10% playing their game and watching ads. The mobile game industry essentially follows the motto of "the star the lives half as long burns twice as bright", aka make a trendy viral game, get your week of fame and then fade out.

[@shiroblack8666]

Imagine working on a game for 4+ years, then having it be completely destroyed and totally unplayable after a few months, yesh.

[@khanhnguyen-tt3ff]

Lol you just describe 60% of the gaming industry

[@yaldabaoth2]

Is that your first time hearing of Square-Enix' practice?

[@kenshigo3833]

Best documentaries in gaming, period! Always spot on, great voice, research done and always something to learn even if you already know the story. 10/10, should be on other streaming plattforms as well!

[@jimpatterson1111]

I agree! Especially the voice. I like Triple Jumps coverage but they need a new narrator.

[@w415800]

Spot on what? all that fixation of Live Service, what about the absolute debacles on Graphic Design and Gameplay Mechanics?

[@fedoratipper6992]

@@w415800 9:53 and 11:42. Watch the fucking video next time.

[@DinoDave150]

I really hope that Platinum gives up on trying to make more live service games.

[@creatorsfreedom6734]

Plat is a Game Developer , SqeNix was the one that wanted another Live Service game

[@jahjoeka]

Platinum never makes their own games

[@DinoDave150]

@@jahjoeka No, they never publish their own games.

[@jahjoeka]

@@DinoDave150 that's what i said

[@DinoDave150]

@@jahjoeka No, you said that Platinum don't make their games when they are developers. It's other companies like Sega, Nintendo, Square Enix, etc. that publish their games.

[@miragespl]

This is also region locked by the way. As if the quality wasn't enough, they had to limit their reach too. It was born to die. I was so curious about it too.

[@ViolenVaymire]

Its deeply tragic that so much work went into a game that was doomed before it even launched. "Live Service" Is the definitive *Do not buy tag* It's the company's job to understand market trends, in this aspect they failed spectacularly, It's just to bad they had to drag all this talent through the mud with them.

[@neliaironwood7573]

Remember that the State of Play 2019 trailer lied that you can pull Zenon's sword away with the Gideon Coffin. In the final game, you can't even do that because that scene was actually scripted

[@Jajalaatmaar]

They always lie in pre-production trailers. It's dumb to assume they won't.

[@specialnewb9821]

​@@Jajalaatmaar okat look, pre-production is always what they want to do but no plan stays the same

[@trustytrest]

@@Jajalaatmaar "its okay for them to lie to your face about the product theyre advertising" bruh what

[@Jajalaatmaar]

@@trustytrest No it isn't, but they do anyway but you're dumb if you don't distrust them.

[@psyhodelik]

Babylon’s fall was a Pretty accurate name after all ^^*

[@flouserschird]

A self fulfilled prophecy

[@archstanton9073]

I've never even heard of this game. I had assumed, before I watched the video, that this was an older game.

[@randomxgen6167]

"The experience taught the developer a valuable lesson." "For one, creating fun through core mechanics was a must." If this was some other developer, I could almost accept this as a learning experience. However, this is Platinum Games, who made bayonetta and nier, but also made that one avatar and that one bad turtles game. They know this, so the fact that they say this is a lesson is either outright disingenuous or indicative that someone grossly unqualified spearheaded the project. And considering it's Inaba, who's been around since platinum was clover studios and gave us God hand, not to mention the earlier games of Wonderful 101, and Metal Gear Rising, the answer has to be Inaba being disingenuous. Which is a damn shame.

[@DANNYonPC]

Babylon's fall has fallen and can't get up

[@Ahairball]

"The tragedy of Babylon's Fall, then, is that whatever live service Platinum builds next will have been laid on a foundation of broken promises and one publisher's refusal to learn from past mistakes." 100% truth

[@Mick2K]

You can still buy it in the electronics store in my German town for 60 Euro. I pity the fool who buys it without knowing.

[@goldglovegrappler1382]

Babylon's Fall was for a few years my most anticipated game. I guessed early on that Kenji Saito would direct, and assumed the ARPG experimentation in Transformers Devastation would be applied to a Dungeon Crawler, on top of the great armor designs in the teaser trailer. I had a lot of faith in this project even during radio silence since Platinum has made some of my all time favorites. Babylon's Fall is one of the worst games I've ever played. The combat is dull with a more limited version of W101's Multi-Unite being the only thing going on mechanically. The filter over the visuals is one of the worst I've ever seen. The quest system and hub are a shameless rip of MH World. The loot was boring and mostly worthless. The story was horrid. Assets reused from Square titles destroying what little identity the visuals had. The composer for the first two Bayonetta games not even turning in his best work for this instead of writing for Bayo 3. Season Passes that were shilled to you in the DEMO. A 3/10 on the back of the enemy designs and music that managed to stand out and it technically functioning. Platinum's other two 2022 games were good, if not for them I would have really lost faith in the studio.

[@SlyRyFry]

hey at least they canceled scalebound, if they couldn't pull this off that was gonna be atrocious. definitely to the point where they knew theyd get sued for false advertisement

[@crystalwings4520]

Still couldn't believe that he's the same director of MGR and Devastation.

[@goldglovegrappler1382]

@Crystalwings It goes to show that a game is more than its Director, but Babylon is the only black mark on Saito's career so I don't blame him. Combat in MGR was designed by Takahisa Taura (Automata lead design, Astral Chain director) who is good at polishing one single mechanic to perfection even if the totality of the combat isn't super deep, and Devastation had Hiroshi Shibata, lead designer on Okami, Bayo 1, & Wonderful 101. Babylon's Fall had a lead designer with very few credits to his name (Isao Negishi), his only prior Leading role being on Platinum's Korra title.

[@crystalwings4520]

@@goldglovegrappler1382 I mean, Babylon Fall is not a bad game, just... it was executed poorly.

[@Alexander-nr5tt]

@@goldglovegrappler1382 Many of the designers, programmers, and co-director Takahisa Sugiyama on Babylon's Fall were new hires that previously worked on Fifa Mobile.

[@LTPineapples]

Thank you for making my morning. It’s been a rough one and this gives me something to just zone out and listen to

[@DirePanda]

Hope things get better soon.

[@boynextdoor1951]

I don't care about your morning

[@charmingpeasant9834]

The more these AAA 'live service' games fail, the better. It's absolute cancer that canibalizes games that could've been solid single player experiences.

[@ZarinuLoren]

Lmao I always thought that Babylon's Fall and Godfall is the same game and only today I realized that it's two different games. Welp. Rest in peace, Babylon's Fall, I hope you won't take Platinum Games with you. After all they're still made some of my favorite games and it would be sad to see them go because of this yet another "live service" failure.

[@SalivatingSteve]

Don’t forget Greedfall, Outer Wilds, and Outer Worlds! So many games with such similar names.

[@BrianStuf]

i remember the reveal trailer for this. i remember going by, frame by frame, to read the lore it was establishing. and i also remember with my interest growing with each new bit of the lore i read. i thought everything about it was going to be so fucking good. fast forward to last year. I haven't been keeping up with BF because of how busy i've been at work. Lo and behold; when I was checking my sub feed, i saw a few videos talking about BF. I had no idea at that point that BF even got a release date. so after work, i was researching BF to see if i should buy it, and then i see the trashfire that BF ended up becoming. it's truly a shame. It seemed like the writers had some really interesting ideas and had a great world/lore design.

[@carpemkarzi]

Yeahhh…the myth of constant economic growth via live service has been busted so many times but companies are still chasing it.

[@Shinzon23]

Yeah as soon as I Saw actual game play, I was like "is this from 2012? Because it sure as shit looks like it!"

[@Walamonga1313]

2012 the good era of gaming, before walking simulators got popular

[@videotape2959]

@@Walamonga1313 Good era is 2004 and before.

[@StriderStryker]

Platinum Games made a game for live service. Probably the worst decision they ever made.

[@shadowangel2235]

The decision to change it from a online multiplayer game (what Platinum wanted and originally developed) to rip-off pay to win shit was made by Square Enix, one of the all-time shittiest, most useless companies in gaming history. Blame them.

[@RecentCobra]

@@shadowangel2235 SE is hardly the shittiest or useless game company. But they are bad, which is annoying since they made so many games that I like.

[@supersayan1962]

​@@shadowangel2235 platinum games opened a new studio to focus in making gaas, It's very likely that it was their idea

[@thegamingprozone1941]

​@@RecentCobra meh I never liked final fantasy.

[@RecentCobra]

@@thegamingprozone1941 And??????

[@TFSned]

I only beat this game so that I wouldn't miss out a Platinum game forever. After the first few missions I was forced to use heavy weapons like the axe and hammer because my swords did 0 damage. I hope Platinum think carefully about what kind of game would make their fans happy.

[@martinramirez9647]

Also, don't forget they wanted us players to buy this game at 60 dollars, it should've been a free 2 play, and maybe it would have lived a little more, but just a little.

[@acepedro12]

Since we're talking about online Platinum titles, you could talk about Anarchy Reigns, maybe even Mad World.

[@WEZBEKILLN999]

Anarchy Reigns deserved better

[@DebbieDickens]

So despite the many telltale signs that gamers, especially fans of Platinum Games, are not interested in playing live service games from them. Their CEO's take away from it flopping is to continue making live service games. No wonder Hideki left this potential sinking ship of a studio.

[@Spartan-yq4qp]

Will Platinum Games survive? Tune in next year to find out

[@Kenshin6321]

I remember when the trailer for launched at E3, and as soon as I saw "live service" I knew immediately it was going to be crap. If live services games died, none of them would be missed.

[@Crota0100]

There was ~100 people playing by the time the first DLC dropped lol

[@orangeapples]

Games as a service works when the games are inherently fun. The problem is that in order to maximize profits they have to drag out how much fun you can have so you think you should pay. They don’t realize that if people aren’t having fun they’ll just leave and find something else.

[@ElOsoMarino]

This game felt like platinum was pressured into making a game they didn't want to, in reality they just didn't executed their vision properly

[@lutherheggs451]

OR the Platinum games cucks could actually open their eyes and grasp that Platinum isn't that great, is highly overrated just like their short ass 3hr games and their best selling title was a Metal Gear game that was already written and all they had to do was make gameplay.

[@ragnoel1]

@@lutherheggs451 "all they ad to do was the gameplay" You make it sound like that´s the least important part of a game

[@trk1b28varianrhesa4]

@@lutherheggs451 nah it isn't.

[@Khalith]

I wonder how much more successful it might have been as a multiplayer game set in the nier automata setting where you could create your own yorha operative?

[@trustytrest]

Because they haven't milked Nier Automata to death already...

[@CybershamanX]

(17:20) Sad GVMERS end of video music is especially sad sounding today. It's never a good time when a game dies these days. Especially since it more than likely means that something that many people worked on for a long time, regardless of how bad the end result was, will simply fade into the aether, never to be played by human beings ever again. Support and encourage digital preservation. Even for games meant to be played via servers. 😎🤘☮

[@oppenz3723]

Man Platinum really needs to find itself a good publishers. One that doesn't saddle them with stupid live service or underwhelming hardware.

[@Quick-Silver206]

The reason I hate games as a service is because I'm someone who does more than just hyper focus on one game. I hate when I put a game down for a month and come back to it and can no longer access old content. Like so many games nowadays expect people to only play one game.

[@joesantoro4964]

The Devs should have done something to allow this to be played on Private/Dedicated servers. The fact this game no longer functions should be a crime.

[@bounceycake1]

As an Avid FF14 player I guess I can understand the attempted collab there with Yoshi P. People on the internet warped the story, saying that Babylons Fall actually stole assets from FF14, but it was really Yoshi P and his team helping them with the project. I mean, Shadowbringers has a whole ass Nier questline/raid, only difference there is how FF knocks it out of the park with how they did there's

[@zombiefriend]

A real shame. I feel like in another universe, this could have been a really cool game.

[@damienlee1165]

This game highlights the problem of devs getting to comfortable making a single type of game and can't break out the mold. Forspoken/Final Fantasy and most new pokemon gams come to mind as well.

[@theotherohlourdespadua1131]

It works for FromSoft. They get praise for making a single type of game...

[@crystalwings4520]

If only Forspoken wasn't written terribly like that... The combat is decent, but the world is kinda empty.

[@newdivide9882]

I think this is more so people being sick and tired of live service games than anything else. They would’ve hit some bumps and upset many people, but I feel like Platinum still would’ve had a better time breaking the mold with something single player and offline. And Square’s problem with Forspoken is that it just sucks in general. It has the worst issues an open world game can have paired with genuinely awful writing

[@renegeeder]

Said it many times, but it's such a shame this turned out this way, the original announcement trailer made it appear like some grand JRPG with a new and interesting setting. Yet, we got this live service trash.

[@RyanParreno]

It really says something when you realize that Square Enix did PlatinumGames dirtier than Activision did

[@MukiMuki688]

Publishers can't seem to tell certain games are successful *despite* having mtx, not because of it.

[@-pressxtostart-]

When some are making billions and you are making millions what are you gonna do?

[@chancepaladin]

I hope you'll do 'Dawngate' one of these days, it was an absolutely lovely, streamlined moba that deserved way more than it got. :(

[@maxibustos7887]

I guess babylon's fall really lived up to it's name

[@eW91dHViZSBpcyBjZW5zb3JzaGlw]

spot on

[@mrxcs]

I played the Closet Beta, I thought it would be free to play PC/Mobile hybrid, but then launch at $60 + Battle Pass, I couldn't believe my eyes.

[@AzariusR]

I think this Live service was so insignificant that everyone forgot it existed at all. Not to mention releasing it in the window of Elden Ring's massive success lmfao.

[@karlimo4034]

Babylon's fall, the game that is falling.

[@FluffyAbsol]

"Square learned this the hard way.." Again. And again. And again.

[@omegaminoseer4539]

I finally get to hear Steve Petitt's beautiful voice once again. The video was informative and seems to be a grim foreshadow of FORESPOKEN as Platinum and SquareEnix seemed to have lost sight of what made their IPs so innovative when drafting new ones.

[@karannashine9526]

Studios making games as a service need to realize that the game needs to match the level of a finished AAA game on day 1 to retain player base. They cannot wait for season 231 to have enough content.

[@unattain4773]

Was really hoping this game was going to end up being a single player action adventure or rpg...had so much potential...

[@pablovillegasiv9313]

Yeah! So they can't even patch out the Live Service aspect and make it a single player game? I could imagine it's not that easy, though.

[@ewanhoo]

​@@pablovillegasiv9313 It's so dead, they look at it as sunk cost, spending a single cent more on the dev's OT is unlikely to bring in new revenue. ​

[@pablovillegasiv9313]

@@ewanhoo Damn... that's really too bad.

[@SlyRyFry]

worst part is not only has this made it 10x harder to get great new IP's, but it's influenced so many established IP's that used to be legendary to attempt the same things with no real ideas of how to maintain it viably. I know it gets old repeating but I sure do miss the variety of awesome games from N64 to the 360/ps3 era, truly feel bad for anyone that wasn't there to experience it. And shame on every developer of a legendary IP that throws their reputation down the drain with a half baked "live service", you deserve every bit of the failure and loss of profits with the shameless cash grab

[@cmdraftbrn]

"your sole job is to make a game that makes me all the MONEY!" -every corporate ceo

[@ryuno2097]

Every gaming publisher / developer wants their own 10 year live service game but they won't put in the love and care it needs/takes to maintain a live service game.

[@LuckyBeerCamper]

No one wanted a live service team from Platinum Games. They need to stick to what they're good at, and it isn't that.

[@isamuominae]

No one wanted a online only game that would become useless once the servers are gone. Is not about Platinum, this online ONLY crao need stop! Doesn't work, is bullshit and we already saw similar cases before. EA's Anthem or Bungie's Destiny are not far from this. Those developers made noise and promisses about them, they was made for sell millions and keep a huge amount of users playing. Well, is not happening this now. Users got tired of them quickly too.

[@Arunnejiro]

Should have named the video "Babylon's Fall's Fall" This game, I downloaded, actually liked the character creation ssytem. I wanted to play it to see what it was about and it ended before I got the chance.

[@infamousincubus2888]

7:46 "The over-the-top hack-and-slash combat, mixed with footage of a larger-than-life boss character left quite the impression on viewers who still knew next to nothing about the adventure." Sounds exactly like FFXVI today

[@mattm7798]

I really wish more games that want to force multiplayer would take the Souls/Borne route and have limited multiplayer instead. Far less overhead

[@Evolution_Kills]

I mean, I liked Bayonetta and Nier Automata, but not enough to turn either into a 2nd job. The obsession with games as a service needs to die in a fire.

[@jeannecaelum5167]

All these years spend on creating a game that was already dead on arrival, its just sad. I always forget about this game, so this video is a welcome last reminder. RIP; SE stop trying to shove life service games out there.

[@ameri7260]

Now i think about what yoko taro said as joke in one of his meetings: "we are just square Enix-sama's slaves we do what they tell us" I no longer feel its just a joke ...

[@isamuominae]

Many stores in Japan refused to drop the price of this. I found several times for $25 used, but since the disc will be useless after the server shutdown I refused to pay that. I wish I could get the plat paying a fair price, too bad that is too late.

[@bookipzee]

excellent documentary

[@ConfusionPlus2]

Well that is a hell of a title.

[@blackspider528]

Has Square Enix ever learned a lesson?

[@PBart7]

Square Enix is incapable of learning

[@Vesperitis]

They rebooted FF14… After a disastrous first launch…

[@chancepaladin]

@@Vesperitis man i'll never forget demoing an alpha of the first attempt at ff14 and talking to them, and being like, 'this literally doesn't work, you can't even get past the tutorial' smh.

[@Walamonga1313]

@@Vesperitis Then milked it to hell and back

[@kieragard]

@@Walamonga1313 if you haven't played ff14, that is most likely the best final fantasy so far and yes i've played them all.

[@1ordof1o1]

awesome as always..... suggestion comandos series ...

[@jf_paes1589]

I think what's most insane is that this is a game that Inaba wanted to make, and despite Platinum's fans begging on their knees to focus on what they do best, he wants to insist on pursuing a genre that's the polar opposite of what the fans want and expect from Platinum.

[@Werewolf.with.Internet.Access]

This is why I cling to games like Skyrim and Elden Ring I like MY story. If I want to play with friends, I’ll pick up a game that does. But the fact is I like playing games where I’m the hero creating the story. Also, if the game is lacking, *mods baby*

[@512TheWolf512]

square enix's bad reputation finally caought up to them. hopefully they'll learn something from this.

[@Chris-vz7en]

A time when Steam showed that there was just a single person playing.... I imagine that guy trying to find a coop session to play with others and thinking to himself, "Man, I can't find anyone to play with, am I the only one playing this freakin' game??" Lol, yeah.

[@crypto66]

I've personally never understood the "live service" model/scheme/whathaveyou; it's like they want the the consistency of sub-based MMOs, but absolutely refuse to just make a sub-based MMO--instead, they chop and twist the monetization in the worst ways possible.

[@rhyswong8976]

Live service was the reason why I slowly quitting games. There is really not many good games out there any more.

[@JimC607]

Whenever I hear "online only" I'm checking out lmao not gonna pay for a game that essentially gets taken off me when the devs decide they wanna make money off something else.

[@CrashOverride332]

I had never even heard of this game until this video. I guess the story really is as tragic as it sounds.

[@jahjoeka]

It's a real shame watching all ur hard work die so hard.

[@hirobeez]

I heard people say "X game may have a No Man's Sky". They often forget that despite everything, NMS sold a boatload of copies BEFORE having a chance to fix it.

[@ewanhoo]

too right m8, there's the brand value to consider, meaning future sales, future fans, future income. Take Fallout 76, they heavily discounted the game to bring in new players that also helped to fund development to retain old players that got angry initially. Besides, MS wouldn't have spent so much if the most recent Fallout title became a ghost town. However, Square Enix doesn't seem to care in this case as they've did it before.

[@noahjester8471]

That Scalebound was axed, but Babylon's Fall got released is the real tragedy

[@Zelldic27]

scalebound would have been another Babylon's Fall

[@ZerotheeHero]

I cant imagine the pressure of the developers of Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts as they are the only AAA ip Square Enix has that isnt a flop. Those two feel like they are the only thing keeping Square in business

[@dennisdavidov782]

While not AAA their smaller rpgs like Octopath Traveler (with a sequel that came out a few days ago) and Triangle Strategy also did pretty well.

[@SuperRamos619]

There are a lot of smaller games that have come out over the years that, while don't make headlines, are considered successes by fans. Just in 2023, we had Power Washer simulator, Tactics Ogre reborn, Harvestella, Dio Field Chronicles. SE just needs to get their big budget games to land well with their audiences, which I admit, isn't something theve been able to do. Forspoken Is a huge disappointment which was preceeded by Marvel's Avengers. On the Horizon though, we have FFXVI, and FF7Rebirth. I do think these games will succeed.

[@trmblingblustar]

Never heard of this one!

[@22freedom33]

Never heard of it, didn't last a single year, probably will forget about it in 2 months

[@aceofhearts573]

It is Aug 2023 and bloomberg made a report in which they stated Square Enix lost 2 billion from all their failed live serviced games plus Outriders and Forspoken. That is what they get

[@steel5897]

Imagine if they pulled the plug on FFXIV early instead of greenlighting A Realm Reborn.

[@Sheynification]

God, working 5 years of project only for it to be dead on arrive. It must be heart breaking for some of these devs.

[@AzureRoxe]

You'd think developers would understand by now that the best way to retain players long-term is to make the game good and fun rather than grindy and tedious, but it seems that's not the case.

[@A1stardan]

It's like Russian roulette, they'd rather keep throwing grindy tedious games filled to brim with micro transactions rather than give us something fun. They can't or won't take the blame for it, it's easier to blame gamers, or the economy instead. Well time for them to make a new grindy, tedious game.

[@-pressxtostart-]

It seems to work for destiny 🤷‍♂️

[@SirTimmy7]

I can't wait for The Day Before that games gonna be the bomb yo

[@n00bnetrum]

I really love the narrators voice.

[@HamsterFactz]

Can't wait for IGN to ripoff this amazing video too. Amazing work as always, sinful this channel doesn't have 6 times the sub count.

[@palodus2]

"Square-Enix learned..." That's questionable.

[@Kenshin6321]

Games as a service can be good, but it really does need to die. The idea that it's ok to launch a barely playable game, have people pay for it, and expect them to keep playing after a horrible initial experience is how we got to this spot in the first place. If you made a bad game back in the day, that was it; no second chances. This forced developers to focus on quality over quantity. Nowadays, it's almost expected that games are crap when they first release, and are later drafted into better versions, and that's just dumb in my opinion. I can't help but feel if Babylon's Fall had all the content released in Season 2, and all prior content available on Day 1, the game would have been much better. But instead, they fell into the trap of "oh well just fix it later, let's hurry up and get the game out" and by this time, people aren't really having it. It's almost as if they didn't learn anything from Final Fantasy 14's original launch and Marvel's Avengers :/.

[@VetriVade]

I actually really enjoyed babylons fall. It had a bad intro which was a major flaw but the endgame content was really fun. Had some great bosses and music with some very unique combat mechanics

[@ultraspinalki11]

A shame it had to be a live service game in the first place.

[@noodles9345]

One thing the devs did right was give it a prophetic title.

[@goidfiog]

I've never even heard of this game until now. Or I completely forgot it existed at least.