The video game world is full of stories of titles that looked like they might have the chance to become very big and then ended up burning out rather quickly. Unfortunately, it’s starting to look likeBabylon’s Fallis going to join that growing list of games. That wouldn’t be all that surprising if the game was being put together by a smaller studio, but Square Enix has the money and the standing in the video game community that would seem to mean that even if the title didn’t get out of the gate in the right way, it could still find strong footing. Of course,Babylon’s Fallstart was about as badas any game by a AAA studio in the last few years.
There’s also the fact thatBabylon’s Fallwouldn’t be the first game that had the backing of a big studio that seemed to flail right out of the gate. One of the most infamous games in recent memory to see a lot of hype leading up to its release, only to get off to a bumpy start followed by quickly dwindling player counts, isAnthem. That game offered players the ability to fly around in mech suits that were quite reminiscent of Iron Man while fighting off alien invaders on a distant planet. However, problems right from the jump like long load times and repetitive missions led to the game falling out of favor quickly.
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Anthem and Babylon’s Fall’s Similar Struggles
The reaction from gamers to bothAnthemandBabylon’s Fallisn’t the only reason why they’re now getting mentioned in the same breath. There’s also the way the developers behaved not all that long after launch that seems a bit concerning. At this point, it’s well known that Electronic Arts initially looked like it was going to try and “save"Anthemby completely rebooting the title. However,after the announcement of anAnthem2.0EA went very, very quiet.
Eventually that silence was followed by word that the reboot had been canceled and that support forAnthemwas ending. These days, the game is still playable, but it’s hard to make the argument that it should be played, considering there will never be any more updates or patches coming to fix the issues that still exist. It’s starting to feel an awful lot likeBabylon’s Fallis about to walk that same path. Earlier this week,Square Enix announced it was going to re-evaluatethe “game’s future.”
It never really feels like good news for a game when the developers are having to “re-evaluate” the entire direction of the title. Considering thatBabylon’s Fallhas been on the market for less than three months, it seems especially bad. On the other hand, considering thatBabylon’s Fallonly had one player onlineat one point earlier this month, it’s pretty clear that some evaluation is needed. The fact that people were pointing out the things that were needed almost immediately after the game launched was a bad sign as well.
IfBabylon’s Fallcontinues to struggle the way it is right now, it might not even be a terrible thing for it to go the way ofAnthem. Sometimes, a game developer needs to realize that even a total reboot isn’t going to really help bring back players or make the game what it was supposed to be when it was still in the planning stages. Time and energy that is being spent on this game could be devoted to something else instead. After all, that is what the idea behindcancelingAnthem 2.0was. Perhaps Square can reverse course and come up with a game that players love, but at the moment, the “re-evaluation” period feels like the beginning of the end.
Babylon’s Fallis currently available on PC, PS4, and PS5.
