Square Enix’s Failed Shooter Is Going Free-To-Play Later This Year

Remember Foamstars? No…oh. Well, okay, uh, shit, I was really counting on you at least partially remembering it. Foamstars, released in February, is Square Enix’s PvP PlayStation game featuring colorful characters shooting foam at each other. It wasn’t very good. And now, less than a year after launch, it’s been announced that Foamstars will become a free-to-play game.

In June 2023, Square Enix announced Foamstars for PS4 and PS5. The reaction online to the PvP-focused foam shooter was mostly people making dirty jokes about just what it is those characters are shooting at each other, and other folks comparing it to Nintendo’s Splatoon games. When Foamstars finally launched in February, as a $30 paid game and a freebie that month for PS Plus subscribers, people weren’t won over by the game. I literally fell asleep playing earlier this year. It was a boring, messy shooter with some neat characters. And now, after seemingly not finding an audience, Foamstars is making the predictable leap to free-to-play.

Get ready for the biggest bubble bash Bath Vegas has ever seen: #FOAMSTARS will be free-to-play starting on October 4 at 1:00AM (UTC)!

🫧 Check out the details here: https://t.co/NF74vJDrwH pic.twitter.com/mPX1yteWIN

— FOAMSTARS (@foamstarsgame) August 27, 2024

On August 27, Square Enix quietly announced plans to transition Foamstars to a free-to-play model. The shift will happen on October 4, which weirdly means that for the next few months people unaware of this news might buy Foamstars even though it will be free later this year.

When the shift happens in October, players will no longer need a PS Plus account to play online.

“Thank you for your support of Foamstars,” Square Enix posted on its website.

Square Enix is offering players who download and play Foamstars before October some free “Legacy” gifts, including a new board, and some exclusive skins. That’s nice, I guess.

Meanwhile, I have to wonder if the most recent PlayStation exclusive live-service flop, Concord, will announce a similar free-to-play shift later this year, as it appears it also hasn’t developed an audience, despite being a really fun-to-play FPS.

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