Foamstars’ bubble bursts as Square Enix makes it free-to-play

Concord isn’t the only cartoon-colored hero shooter to open to the sound of crickets. Square Enix’s Foamstars, which launched in February and whose player count plunged off a cliff two weeks after release, is going free-to-play.

Converting a premium live-service title to a free-to-play model is widely seen as throwing in the towel on a game. Foamstars, for PS4 and PS5, was $29.99 at launch and struggled out of the gate, although it was a free inclusion for PlayStation Plus Essential subscribers in its launch month.

Now its publisher has quietly announced that Foamstars will go free to play beginning Oct. 4. Square Enix notes that a PlayStation Plus subscription, which gatekeeps multiplayer access for both PS4 and PS5, will not be necessary to play once Foamstars goes F2P. That’s another sign the publisher is making a last ditch effort to draw any kind of crowd to the Splatoon-like shooter.

Those who put down real money at Foamstars’ launch will receive a “Legacy Gift” of in-game content, including: 12 color variant Bubble Beastie skins, a Slide Board design, and the in-game “Legacy” title for the owner’s account.

“Your continued support of Foamstars would be greatly appreciated,” the game’s developers added.

Foamstars, by Toylogic, launched for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 on Feb. 6. The game is similar to Nintendo’s hit Splatoon franchise in that teams of four launch sudsy streams at each other, immobilizing their opponents and taking control of the playing space. Their foamy abilities have other uses, such as building up terrain to get a higher-ground advantage, or to protect a teammate and wall opponents off from their objective.

It didn’t help that, canonically speaking, the “foam” isn’t thrown around by nozzles attached to tanks or canisters, it’s actually some kind of a … bodily fluid that the characters excrete. Seriously, this lent the game to all sorts of disgusting jokes at the time when it was most critical to convince folks that it was worthwhile fun.

Foamstars also had the misfortune of launching in the same week as Helldivers 2, which has been a considerable sales and player-count success for Arrowhead Game Studios and publisher Sony Interactive Entertainment. So while the assist from PS Plus Essential might have been a nice gesture, PlayStation ultimately crushed a competitor in its launch week.

The worm has since turned for SIE, as Concord, a hero shooter said to be in development for nearly eight years, landed with a thud at launch this past weekend. As SIE and developer Firewalk Studios contemplate next steps in the face of a dismal player count, most speculate that they, too, will pivot to a free-to-play format for something currently retailing for $39.99.

Featured image via Square Enix

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