Babylon's Fall was not a good game by most estimates. Our review gave this co-op action RPG a 45%, and its highest rating on Steam was 482 Mostly Negative. Still, its final update was heartbreaking.

Just six months after "Babylon's Fall" launched, developer Platinum Games (one of our favorites) halted plans for a major update and, despite receiving many "glowing messages of support," announced that it could not keep the game online for live service announced that it would not be able to do so.

"We are truly sorry and disappointed that, despite your support, we will no longer be able to keep the game in service. We hope you will continue to enjoy 'Babylon Falls' until the end of the service."

That was last September, at the same time the $60 game was discontinued, but owners were able to play it until the service ended earlier this week.Babylon's Fall no longer appears in Steam searches, but the Steam page (opens in a new tab) is still accessible, leading me to discover the saddest patch note post I've ever read. It may be a vain hope, but who wouldn't: for the past month, only about four people on average have been playing "The Fall of Babylon" at any given time. On Monday, just before the shutdown, the number of concurrent players peaked at 31.

Whether the number of players is high or low, it is still a shame that one of these online-only games will forever be unplayable. The potential death implied by the term "live service" has become one of the key themes in gaming over the past five years: Anthem, Artifact, Marvel's Avengers, and the entire live service platform, Stadia, are one of the most notable casualties of the era.

Atsushi Inaba, CEO of Platinum Games, talked a bit about the failure of "Babylon's Fall" last year, stating in rather vague terms that there was a discord between the mechanics of the game and the live service aspect.

"It is not at all pleasing to us as developers to offer players anything other than fun and enjoyment in our creations," he said.

Of course, when it works, it works: one of the games that launched in 2017 and triggered this live service gold rush, "Destiny 2," just received its seventh expansion.