Babylon's Fall does not seem to be a very good video game. In fact, it's currently the worst game of the year, sitting some 14 points behind the next lowest. We gave it a single star, and we debated whether or not that might have been too high. Nobody is playing this game. Nobody is watching this game. Nobody seems to care about this game. Nobody, at least, apart from publisher Square Enix. In a recent statement posted on social media, Square Enix essentially posted a FAQ, where the single Q was 'lol is this game dead already?'
Square Enix defended Babylon's Fall and reassured players (all six of them) that the game had a long roadmap of content planned out and would be supported through multiple seasons. This was after crowdsourcing suggestions on how to improve a game that peaked with 600 players on launch day. In some ways, it's a positive thing that a publisher comes out and defends its games. It wasn't done in an inflammatory way, it didn't make anyone the enemy, it just said 'the game will be fine', and in such a toxic medium, it's good to see publishers go to bat when games need them to. But Square Enix's history makes it feel like an insult.
My two biggest surprises of last year were both Square Enix published titles - NEO: The World Ends With You and Guardians of the Galaxy. Both reviewed fairly well, each scoring 80 on Metacritic, while GotG even scooped The Game Award for Best Narrative. Despite NEO being based on a cult classic with a passionate fanbase, and GotG riffing off the most popular film series in the history of cinema, both had minor promotional cycles. Both, as a result, underperformed on expectations for Square Enix, with GotG being especially thrown under the bus in Square Enix's annual report. Both games are significantly better than Babylon's Fall and had more secure footing, yet were completely and instantly abandoned. As much as the publisher's defence of Babylon's Fall is a positive, it only serves to highlight the absence of a defence for games that were more deserving.
It's like Square Enix has three kids. One of them has been hit by a car, another has been stabbed, and a third has fallen over and scraped its knee. Square Enix is rushing over with Dora the Explorer sticking plasters for the knee while the other two kids bleed out. When I say 'more deserving', it's not even that Babylon's Fall is a bad game. I mean, it's terrible, and I'm sure some awful decisions behind the scenes led to this outcome, but it's not less worthy of a defence just because it's bad. It's more that it just doesn't need it.
Babylon's Fall is as fine as it's ever going to be. Its numbers aren't going to increase much, and if people have stuck around for this long, they'll likely still be here for the seasonal updates. Square Enix is really targeting the masochist market with Babylon's Fall and Avengers one after the other. But again, the issue isn't that Babylon's Fall was afforded a defence, or the wording of said defence. It's that other games, games that might have climbed to the audience size they deserved if given just a little push, were left to scramble in the dirt.
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In many ways, Square Enix can feel like a cruel publisher, one whose standards never seem to be met even as the games, often made with complications behind the scenes, receive good press and positive receptions from players. Maybe Babylon's Fall is Square Enix turning a corner. I doubt it, but we need at least one good thing to come out of that mess.