Square Enix has announced plans to shift its Splatoon inspired multiplayer 4v4 shooter Foamstars to a free-to-play model starting on October 4.

Foamtstars was released 8 months ago as a PlayStation exclusive with a £24.99 price tag and was even given away as part of PlayStation Plus in an effort to draw in a strong player base.

“FOAMSTARS, currently available on PlayStation®5 and PlayStation®4, will change from its current regional pricing to a free-to-play title starting from October 4th 2024 at 1:00AM.” says Square Enix.

As part of the move to free-to-play, a PlayStation Plus subscription will no longer be needed to enjoy the soapy delights of Foamstars. There will also be a “Legacy Gift” made available to everyone which will include:

-12 exclusive color-variant Bubble Beastie skins
-1 exclusive Slide Board design
-1 title: “Legacy”

The decision to shift to a free-to-play model is presumably being done as a last-ditch effort to keep Foamstars going. According to Takashi Mochizuki of Bloomberg, Square Enix told analysts that Foamstars had failed to meet internal targets. Takashi summarised it thusly: “Foamstars fell short of expectations. Initial momentum didn’t reach an internal target. No sales number to share”

Since PlayStation doesn’t share player data and because Square Enix has not disclosed how many copies are sold, it’s impossible to know what sort of playerbase Foamstars has currently, although it’s worth pointing out that people still playing it seem to be having a good time with Discord groups etc. dedicated to finding groups to play with.

While I doubt this move will be enough to save it, I hope I’m wrong and Foamstars can find itself an audience willing to give it a whirl once it costs nothing to try.