Babylon’s Fall contains gear and emote assets “borrowed” from Final Fantasy 14, developer PlatinumGames has confirmed.
Players of the Babylon’s Fall phase three closed beta test had expressed concern about the visual appearance of gear in the long-awaited Square Enix-published online co-op 3D action game, with some accusing Platinum of “ripping off” the much-loved MMO.
Babylon’s Fall producer Yosuke Saito penned a blog post addressing the concern, confirming the game uses gear assets from Final Fantasy 14.
“When I gave my Babylon’s Fall presentation at a company meeting, Final Fantasy 14 producer and director Naoki Yoshida was also in attendance and offered his help, to which I replied, ‘Yes, please!’ ” Saito said.
“This is how the plan came to fruition. We then carefully implemented the data while closely coordinating with the Final Fantasy 14 team.”
Saito added that by “borrowing” data from Final Fantasy 14, Platinum was able to add a much wider variety of gear and emotes to Babylon’s Fall than the studio originally planned.
However, Saito stressed the visuals of “most” of the gear players can get in-game are unique to Babylon’s Fall.
“The data borrowed from Final Fantasy 14 was used for gear from the introduction to mid-level range of the game, which is why they were so prevalent in the closed beta test,” Saito explained.
“We apologise for any concerns this caused. We are working hard on the development of the game so as not to disappoint our players and appreciate your continued support.”
To emphasise that everything is above board, Saito’s message to the community was bolstered by a comment from Yoshida himself.
“When I first heard Mr. Saito’s plan for Babylon’s Fall, I thought to myself, ‘Ahh, so he’s making a hardcore action-based hack-and-slash game. I’m kind of jealous,’ ” Yoshida said.
“But at the same time, I thought, ‘Preparing all of the gear variations needed for the gameplay is going to be really difficult.’ After all, a hack-and-slash game is far more enjoyable when numerous items and gear are available.
“However, Babylon’s Fall is a brand-new title which entails new challenges, so we can’t give it an unlimited budget. This is a key point.
“I myself am a huge fan of online games, a gamer, and a developer. That’s why I couldn’t be happier if Babylon’s Fall succeeds and reinvigorates Japanese online games while boosting the number of players in the genre.
“So, I said, ‘Let’s use FFXIV’s assets too. We have so many, it’d be a shame to limit them to FFXIV alone,’ and that’s how it all started. Back then, I didn’t realise that it would become such a hot topic…
“Of course, the subtle design changes and adjustments during their implementation into Babylon’s Fall will be fully supervised by the FFXIV team to ensure that they fit into its world.
“So please rest assured and look forward to playing Babylon’s Fall! That’d be a great delight for us as well.”
Babylon’s Fall is due out on PC, PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 at some point next year.
