Babylon’s Fall, the latest co-op action RPG from Square Enix and Platinum Games, struggled to attract an audience when it launched last March, and has fallen below 10 concurrent players on PC for the first time.
As game-tracking site SteamCharts shows, only eight players booted up Babylon’s Fall on Steam during one point on April 13, marking a new low for the ailing game. As of press time, a paltry 93 people were playing, and it’s attracted an average concurrent player count of only 149 across the last 30 days.
Players have been drifting from the game since it launched at the beginning of March. It failed to draw an audience , peaking at only 1,188 players the day after release. Critics were not kind, either, awarding it low review scores. On Metacritic, it’s currently listed as the second-worst release of the year so far and the worst-reviewed PS5 game .
Its release date did it no favors, either. Coming out shortly after Horizon Forbidden West and less than a week after Elden Ring , it quickly found itself in the shadow of other major triple-A releases.
Does Babylon's Fall have a future?
Fear not, would-be fans! Square Enix has explicitly addressed the future of the game, insisting its longevity is not in danger.
“There are no plans to reduce the scale of development on Babylon’s Fall,” the game’s official Twitter account said in a statement last month.
“Content up to the end of Season 2 is now practically complete and we have started work on Season 3 and beyond,” it continued.
“We will continue to provide new content for the game and make improvements based on player feedback, striving to keep existing players playing and to attract newcomers.”
The publisher has also previously released a survey asking fans how Babylon’s Fall could be improved. It paid particular attention to the game’s UI and graphics, which are deliberately styled to ape the brushwork of oil paintings. It asked players which features would encourage them to recommend the game to a friend and if they’d be more likely to do so after graphical tweaks were made.
Square Enix will likely be disappointed with the sales of Babylon’s Fall, but its meager player count also undermines the game’s live-service business model. Pitched as a multiplayer co-operative action RPG, it launched with a season of expansion content, as well as lots of microtransactions and optional purchases.
Without a large player count, it will be a struggle to get a team together to play through the additional content. And without a dedicated playerbase, future seasons of DLC likely won’t produce the return Square Enix hopes for. The publisher may have envisaged a long lifespan for Babylon’s Fall, but if the player count doesn't increase, that may be cut short.
This isn’t the only recent triple-A release that’s struggled to maintain a functional playerbase. Battlefield 2042 has seen an exodus of fans who are disappointed with its persistent glitches and slow rollout of updates. Dice’s multiplayer shooter has now fallen below 1,000 concurrent players on Steam, with many moving to an indie Battlefield clone for their squad-based FPS fix.
Mint Mobile vs T-Mobile: which carrier is best for you?
Mint Mobile vs T-Mobile is a question that's no doubt in the minds of many a cell phone user over the past few months, given the incredibly high-profile ads campaign of the former. Both being on the same network makes them directly cross-compatible too - which begs the question, which one's best for you?
On one side is Mint Mobile, a smaller service that we rank at the very top of our best prepaid phone plans guide. On the other, T-Mobile, a well-established phone plan giant that specializes in offering some of the best unlimited data plans around.
In short, both are going to appeal to a very different type of user and both have advantages and drawbacks. To help narrow down which is for you, we've put together this direct Mint Mobile vs T-Mobile to see how they stack up when it comes to price, features, speed, and service - including a handy verdict and summary at the bottom of the page.
Mint Mobile vs T-Mobile: at a glance
| Mint Mobile | T-Mobile | |
| Contract length | No contract (3 to 12 month plans) | No contract |
| 5G data | Up until 35GB (128Kb/s after) | Yes (usage restrictions on some plans) |
| Video streaming | 480p | 4K UHD (480p on some plans) |
| Streaming perks | No | Netflix |
| International calling | 60 countries | Mexico and Canada (Intl. extra) |
| International roaming | No | Yes (on Magenta plan) |
| Mobile hotspotting | 5GB cap on unlimited plan | Unlimited 3G speed, 40GB max 5G speeds |
| Deprioritization | Yes | Yes (only after 50GB+ usage) |
| Family plans | No | Yes |
Pricing
If you're strictly on a budget, then Mint Mobile is definitely the cheaper of the two options on average. For a single line user, for example, you'll generally be looking at paying about half ($30 versus $60pm) for Mint Mobile's unlimited data plan versus the similar Essentials Unlimited plan at T-Mobile, although you do get less 5G data (25GB versus 50GB).
Where things start to weigh in T-Mobile's favor is with its excellent family data plan options. Like most major carriers, T-Mobile will give you a discount on each line if you have multiple signed up for one plan. Unlike most major carriers, however, T-Mobile actually throws in the third line for free, which makes its three to four-line options particularly competitive. With three lines on your account, you'll pay just $90 a month for the Essentials plan and $120 for the Magenta plan - the latter of which has 100GB of priority 5G data and a free Netflix account.
Features, speed and service
As we've already hinted at, and covered in the comparison table above - T-Mobile offers the most feature-laden plans out of the two carriers, but at a significant cost.
Depending on the plan you'll be scoring things like a free Netflix account, basic international roaming, and the 'T-Mobile Tuesdays' perks scheme, which gives you access to in-store discounts and giveaways. In comparison, Mint Mobile plans are pretty stripped down affairs, although you do still get the basics like mobile hotspot allowance and free WiFi calling.
Speed-wise, both carriers are offering 5G data plans and operating on the greater T-Mobile network. Put simply, both should get comparable speed and service, although it's worth noting that as a prepaid carrier, Mint Mobile is subject (to a greater degree) to what's called 'deprioritization'. What this essentially means is that when the local area is busy, T-Mobile will always prioritize its own customer's data speeds primarily over those of sub-carriers running on its network.
It's also worth noting that as an MVNO Mint Mobile doesn't participate in the large carrier roaming agreements, which can mean worse coverage in areas that aren't specifically covered by T-Mobile network towers. With T-Mobile, if you're in an area with poor coverage the service will essentially 'borrow' coverage from AT&T or Verizon and visa versa.
What about T-Mobile prepaid?
As well as its more well-known 'postpaid' unlimited plans, T-Mobile also has a number of prepaid plans to check out for those who want a plan on the service, but want to spend a little bit less. In short, T-Mobile prepaid plans will generally set you back anywhere from $15 per month for the basic 2.5GB monthly data allowance, all the way to $60 per month for an expanded unlimited data plan.
In our eyes, if you're going prepaid, you may as well opt for Mint Mobile in this regard since you'll generally get better bang for the buck. For the same price as the $15 per month entry-level 2.5GB plan at T-Mobile, for example, you can get 4GB at Mint Mobile. Plus, Mint's unlimited plan is way cheaper at $30 per month versus the $50 per month for the basic unlimited prepaid plan at T-Mobile. Of course, with Mint you will need to be paying upfront for multiple months at a time to secure the lowest prices, but if you can get past that lump-sum upfront, it'll be cheaper for you in the long run.
Verdict
Both Mint Mobile and T-Mobile are absolutely awesome carriers, but they'll definitely each appeal to a different type of user. For those who are really on a budget, and don't mind having just the basics, then Mint Mobile is absolutely the way to go. While T-Mobile is comparatively good value versus the other big carriers (especially with its family plans), you simply can't get the same sort of reasonable data allowances and rock-bottom prices at this carrier versus what Mint offers.
On the other hand, for those who want a truly unlimited plan, no deprioritization, and HD video streaming, then T-Mobile is going to offer just that. You will, of course, be spending about double for a single-line plan at Mint, but Mint Mobile simply doesn't offer things like unlimited priority data or HD streaming, so it's a fairly easy decision if that's what's important to you.
What other carriers should I check out?
T-Mobile as a network has no shortage of excellent sub-carriers (MVNOs) to consider. First up is Metro by T-Mobile, which offers slightly cheaper prepaid plans all around versus its parent company, but still retains a few perks like free music streaming and Amazon Prime membership on the more expensive plans. At a baseline of $40 per month for the 10GB/mo plan , Metro sits somewhere in the middle in regards to value. Boost Mobile is another great choice with plans starting at $15 per month for the 2GB plan , up to $50 a month for its unlimited plan. Boost has particularly good rates for multiple-line accounts, so it's a great cheap prepaid family plan alternative to T-Mobile.
If you're looking for more great alternatives, we definitely recommend heading on over to our best cheap cell phone plans guide for an exhaustive list of options.
OnePlus 10 is apparently coming, and could be even better than the OnePlus 10 Pro
The OnePlus 10 shouldn’t exist, not least because OnePlus claimed it didn’t , but it now looks like it might well do anyway, as a leaker has shared many of the supposed specs.
According to @OnLeaks (a leaker with a good track record), speaking to Digit , the OnePlus 10 might not just 'exist' – it might even have the OnePlus 10 Pro beat in a couple of ways.
Specifically, it might have 150W charging (up from 80W in the OnePlus 10 Pro – or 65W for US buyers), and a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Plus chipset, up from the vanilla Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 in the OnePlus 10 Pro.
That second spec looks far from certain at this point, as apparently OnePlus is currently deciding between that and the MediaTek Dimensity 9000, but even that latter chipset slightly outperforms the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 in most benchmarks.
It’s very strange to think that the vanilla OnePlus 10 might be more powerful and faster at charging than the OnePlus 10 Pro, but then it’s also strange that this phone is launching so long after the Pro model – if it really does exist.
For now, we’d take the leak with a pinch of salt, but the rest of the rumored specs are at least more in line with what we’d expect, including a 6.7-inch FHD+ AMOLED screen with a 120Hz refresh rate, 8GB or 12GB of RAM, 128GB or 256GB of storage, a 4,800mAh battery, and Android 12 , with the company’s OxygenOS 12 overlaid on top of it.
The OnePlus 10 reportedly also has a triple-lens camera, with a 50MP main sensor, a 16MP ultra-wide one, and a 2MP macro snapper, while on the front there’s apparently a 32MP camera. So those specs are all either in line with or slightly worse sounding than what you’ll find on the OnePlus 10 Pro.
Another downgrade here could be the removal of the alert slider, and the leak says that we’ll see this phone in the second half of the year. So it could land more around the time when the company would typically have released ‘T’ models in the past.
Analysis: a reworked OnePlus Ace
OnePlus recently unveiled the OnePlus Ace in China, and going by these specs it sounds like the OnePlus 10 could be quite similar to that phone in a number of ways (and also to the OnePlus 10R, which is rumored to be the OnePlus Ace for an Indian audience).
The OnePlus Ace then has the same screen specs and can also come with the same storage and RAM amounts. It even has 150W charging, and its main and macro cameras have the same number of megapixels (though its ultrawide one is only 8MP).
The OnePlus 10 should be the better phone overall though if this leak is right, as the OnePlus Ace has a lesser Dimensity 8100 Max chipset, a 16MP selfie camera, and a smaller 4,500mAh battery.