PlatinumGames CEO confirms studio will continue making live service games

Despite the incoming shut down of its online action game Babylon's Fall, developer PlatinumGames will continue to develop live service titles. Speaking to VGC, CEO Atsushi Inaba confirmed that his plans to make live service a part of the studio's DNA remain unaltered. 

“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," said Inaba. "Live service games are definitely something we do want to do and put our effort in moving forward." 

Live service games have been a crapshoot for many developers, whether it's the developer's first time or another to add to their pile. To Inaba, the specific failure of Babylon's Fall came from a lack of "strong connection" between the game's two internal pillars of core game mechanics and live service maintenance. 

"If one of these is valued over the other or if they’re not connected, things usually don’t turn out the way we would have wanted them to. We want to focus on keeping that connection and that balance between those two pillars moving forward.”

Babylon's Fall will be taken offline in February 2023, nearly a full year after its initial launch this past March. This is Inaba's first time speaking on the game's fate, and while he admitted a hesitance to work with a third party on a similar title again, he also was upfront in saying that Babylon's issues didn't entirely stem from the studio's partnership with Square Enix. 

"If we hypothetically were to do everything on our own to develop the game, with full control, then if we failed it’s pretty much 100% on us and if we succeed it was basically on us," continued Inaba. 

"This whole ‘frustration’ story is something that we should not deny...[we should] admit the fact and make this end result clear, move on, and connect this experience to our efforts moving forward. This is the only way to not feel frustrated in the long run.”

While Inaba continues to have a live service focus, Platinum's future will continue to involve single player games. Its next title, Bayonetta 3, will release later in the month.