Square Enix and Platinum Games’ newest co-op action RPG, Babylon’s Fall, had a hard time gaining players when it was released last March. And where it’s at today looks pretty bad. The game fell below 10 in the number of players playing the game simultaneously for the first time on the PC platform.
Only eight players were running Babylon’s Fall on Steam during a time on April 13, as gaming streaming site SteamCharts showed, marking a new record drop for the game. As of the time of this writing, the highest number of simultaneous players in the last 24 hours is 198, and the average number of simultaneous players in the last 30 days is only 149.
Gamers have been rapidly moving away from the game since its launch in early March. The game, which reached the peak with only 1,188 players the day after its release, failed to capture a permanent audience. Critics also did not treat the game very well, giving it rather low review scores. It is currently listed on Metacritic as the second worst release of the year and the worst PS5 game reviewed.
We can’t say that the release date is also beneficial for the game. Released shortly after Horizon Forbidden West and less than a week after Elden Ring release, the game found itself battling other big AAA titles.
However, since then, Square Enix, which has openly stated that the game’s future is not in danger, seems to have some based plans. The game’s official Twitter account said in a statement last month, “There are no plans to reduce the development scale of Babylon’s Fall. The content until the end of Season 2 is almost complete, and we have started work on Season 3 and beyond.”
The description continues: “We will continue to provide new content for the game and make improvements based on player feedback, keeping existing players in the game and trying to attract new players.”
The publisher also previously submitted a survey asking fans how Babylon’s Fall could be improved.
Square Enix will likely be disappointed with the sales of Babylon’s Fall, but insufficient player count is also undermining the game’s live service business model. Presented as a multiplayer co-op action RPG, the game has been released with a season of expansion content as well as numerous microtransactions and optional purchases.
Without a large player base, it will be difficult to get a team together to play additional content. And without a dedicated player base, next season’s DLCs probably won’t make the comeback Square Enix was hoping for. The publisher may expect Babylon’s Fall to be played for a long time, but if the player count doesn’t increase, that process may be cut short.
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