There have been many ups and downs in the gaming space in 2024, but an interesting trend that has popped up this year, in particular, is gamers’ ability to tell if a game will be a hit or not based on its “first look.” That might sound a bit odd, as we’re all obviously not omniscient to what will happen with certain games, as a certain title with Sun Wukong can prove, but there have been plenty of games this year that released and just before, or even before, those launches, the game was predicted to fail. Foamstars was one of many that fulfilled that prophecy.
The title was a live-service multiplayer title that clearly ripped off, er, copied the stylings and mechanics of a certain Nintendo franchise and tried to bank off of certain elements, even though the Nintendo franchise wasn’t a live-service one. Many predicted it would flop, and it absolutely did so. The game launched in February, and today, Square Enix released two statements confirming that the upcoming season will be its last. Titled “The Party Goes On,” after this season is done, there will be no more seasonal updates. Players can still play the game, but there won’t be meaningful updates for it anymore:
“In this concluding update, expansions will be introduced to enhance gameplay, such as the ability to customize shots of each character, and new enhancement elements, such as Prism Gems, all aimed at ensuring players can continue to enjoy the game for the foreseeable future. Furthermore, to ensure that new players can fully enjoy Foamstars, previous Season Passes will be made available again. Players can switch between Season Passes at any time to proceed along the Season Pass track of your choice and obtain items from past seasons. This will make it possible for players to obtain all the items from each season.”
The game’s producer also wrote a letter to fans, thanking them for their support with the game:
“Thanks to all of you, we’ve managed to successfully complete every update we had planned. We’ve been able to reach this point because of your warm support. On behalf of the entire team, I’d like to take this opportunity to express our heartfelt gratitude.”
As blunt as it sounds, this is just the latest of several failures that Square Enix has had recently, and it’s undoubtedly one of the forces behind the layoffs and restructuring that it’s currently going through. Hopefully, the company will learn from this.
