Babylon's Fall, the tragic "games-as-a-service" title launched by Square Enix back in March of 2022, has died a quick and un-triumphant death. Launching after a catastrophic beta period during which players savaged the game's visuals, Babylon's Fall barely managed to make a blip on the gaming community's radar. After six months of struggle, Square Enix has pulled the plug, flushing who-knows-how-much money down the drain.
I played the Babylon's Fall demo pretty extensively. At first, I didn't understand the game at all. I had no idea what decisions had led to the perceived mess I was looking at. But determined to get to the bottom of what Square Enix was attempting, my son Aidan and I took another swipe at Babylon's Fall, and ended up having a pretty good time with it. Not good enough to actually invest in the game though, unfortunately.
The Babylon's Fall team has been active on social media during the last six months, promising to continue support for the game. I half expected Babylon's Fall to go free-to-play, at which point I was fully on board with jumping back in and really engaging with the title. I wanted to play it, I just didn't want to play it for sixty bucks. It seems that Square Enix decided "Nah" on that one though, as the game is shutting down rather than transition to a new business model.
It's always sad to see a game go under, especially one as ambitious as Babylon's Fall. A lot of people put a lot of work into this title, and I'm sure some folks out there somewhere really loved it. But not enough to keep it from going under.
Babylon's Fall will cease service on February 27, 2023, approximately one year after launch.
