Babylon's Fall

Square Enix announced end of service on Sept 13, 2022, just six months after the March 3 launch, and pulled the plug on Feb 27, 2023. Before that, PlatinumGames did genuine live-ops work: a 1.1.0 update, a NieR:Automata collab, an extended Season 2, player surveys and livestreams. The sunset itself was handled with unusual decency — Garaz sales halted immediately and a refund process for unused premium currency began Mar 1, 2023. But the March 2022 all-caps 'the game isn't dead' promise, followed by cancellation of the Season 3+ roadmap six months later, means the studio told players to trust a future the publisher had no intention of delivering.

• PlatinumGames shipped real post-launch work (1.1.0, NieR:Automata collab, Season 2 extended for reevaluation) before the plug was pulled — real aftercare, not vapor.
• The March 2022 'not dead' assurance, followed by the September 2022 shutdown announcement cancelling the Season 3+ roadmap, burned the studio's credibility on its own promises.
• Sunset handling was above average for the genre: Garaz sales halted same-day, game delisted, five-month wind-down with event seasons, and a refund process for unused premium currency.
• Attribution matters: Square Enix made the shutdown call; PlatinumGames ran the live ops and its CEO (Atsushi Inaba) publicly apologized. Neither compensated $60 buyers for a dead always-online game.