Platinum Games has had its ups and downs since its founding 15-years ago, with Babylon’s Fall definitely being one of the downs. Platinum’s first attempt at doing a live service, Babylon’s Fall was savaged by critics and had its post-launch support cut short after its Steam playercount literally dropped to zero after only three months. Platinum hasn’t had a lot to say about the dramatic fall of Babylon’s Fall, but in a new interview with Video Games Chronicle, CEO Atsushi Inaba said the company was “extremely sorry” about how things turned out.
“Any disappointment that we might have caused for our fan base is something we feel extremely sorry about, the fact that we led our dedicated fans to feel that way as a developer. Providing any sentiment other than enjoyment and fun in our creations to players is something that we’re not very happy about at all as a developer.”
So, is the failure of Babylon’s Fall going to change Platinum Games’ plans for further “games as a service” projects? Apparently, not.
“There’s a lot that we learned from this experience, and it’s not changed our future plans or outlook moving forward regarding doing live service games at all. Live service games are definitely something we do want to do and put our effort in moving forward.”
It makes sense that Platinum would want to have the stable income a live-service can provide, rather than living from game to game as they have been since their founding. That said, they clearly need to seriously rethink how they approach the genre. Thankfully, it does seem like Babylon’s Fall has been somewhat of a teaching moment, as Inaba promises fun Platinum-style game mechanics will be at the core of any future GaaS title they make.
Babylon’s Fall is available now on PC, PS4, and PS5. Service to the game will end on February 27, 2023. Platinum’s next game, Bayonetta 3, launches on Nintendo Switch on October 28.
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