Fall Guys launched to immense success earlier this week, but all that attention also brought major server issues that are continuing into the game’s first weekend. The degree of Fall Guys’ launch success may be surprising given that it only launched on PC and PlayStation 4, but its player count was certainly boosted by it being made free for PS Plus users.
It seems that even publisher Devolver Digital and developer Mediatonic may have been caught out by just how quickly Fall Guys took off. As players flocked to try the quirky new battle royale, its servers buckled under their weight, eventually forcing Mediatonic to take them offline for maintenance. Unhappy players responded by sending out an avalanche of negative reviews, though they were balanced by favorable ones written by the lucky fans who were actually able to get into the game despite its network problems.
After its launch day woes, things have been smoother for Fall Guys, which has continued to draw a massive number of players, but its troubles aren’t completely behind it. While servers are more stable than they were at first, they’re still not running at an optimal level, leaving some players still frustrated with their inability to join the game. The Fall Guys Server Owl Twitter account posted today that servers are still getting hammered and players are eager for updates. According to the support account, the team is still working to get the servers more stable by this weekend.
Such major server problems in the first week of an online game could be disastrous if they cause players to leave for a more reliable game. In Fall Guys’ case, that fortunately doesn’t seem too likely, as players are still fighting to get in despite the difficulty. Fans are eager not only to play the game, but to watch it as well, and there have been some pretty creative streams taking advantage of the huge viewership already. Streamer Rudeism won a round with a thematically appropriate controller made of jelly beans this week, and even Chuck E. Cheese got in on the action, much to the delight of Devolver Digital.
Fall Guys is both enjoying and suffering from its time in the spotlight for now, but the real question is how it will fare once the launch hype dies down. It’s a simple but incredibly addictive game, and its prospects for the future may rely on how well Mediatonic is able to keep the fun going weeks and months from now. Hopefully by then it will at least be done with its servers’ growing pains.
Fall Guys is available now on PS4 and PC.
