First entering Open Beta back in March 2016, Figureheads was one of Square Enix’s various new PC online games developed to capture the unexplored esports market of Japan. While many others have since been closed, Figureheads somehow marched on for 2 years until the recent announcement. Square Enix will be shutting Figureheads down on 30 June, with the in-game cash shop closing on 22 March. Figureheads never saw an overseas release.
Just to recap the game mechanics, there are many corporations in Figureheads for players to pledge their allegiance to, and then representing them in mecha fights from a third-person point of view. Each corporation have their own unique 2Foot (the term used for mecha), though there are 3 standard types each with 2 classes: Lightweight (Sniper, Engineer), Middleweight (Assault, Support), and Heavyweight (Striker, Heavy Assault).
Each team actually consists of 4 machines, hence players must give commands to the other units during battle, adding a RTS element to the game. In the basic 5 vs 5 mode, it means there are 40 machines running around the map! Also, there are many parts of each 2Foot to change and upgrade. Square Enix subsequently added new PVE features and many collaboration events, which didn’t seem to help with Figurehead’s waning player population.
