PlayStation exclusive title Destruction AllStars might be going free-to-play after its disappointing launch

If rumors are to be believed, PS5 exclusive Destruction AllStars will likely go free-to-play within a year of its release. The multiplayer vehicular combat game is unlike Sony’s usual first-party titles, which mostly revolve around single-player narrative-driven experiences.

Since its lackluster launch through PS Plus, the game has only bled out its player base over the last year.

The rumor of the title going free-to-play arose after players spotted some code references related to “F2P” in the challenges section of the game. It might be a mistake on the developer Lucid Games’ part to ship the patch 3.0.1 in this way.

However, it lends credence to the theory that the game is probably becoming free-to-play.

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Destruction AllStars will potentially become free-to-play

One year down the line, it almost seems unbelievable that Sony wanted to launch Destruction AllStars at a $70 price point. However, they, fortunately, avoided that scenario and packaged the game with PS Plus for three months from its release on February 2, 2021. After leaving the PS Plus lineup in April, the game was priced at $20.

While the game has often been discounted to even $5 during a few sales, it has not done a lot in attracting potential players to pick up the game - so much so that developer Lucid Games had to add bots in May last year to keep matchmaking running.

The lack of a healthy player base can be attributed to two plausible reasons - first, the chip shortage which makes purchasing a PlayStation 5 a hard task; second, the genre of the game.

The main draw for buying a brand new PlayStation console remains Sony’s high-profile story-driven action-adventure titles. A multiplayer vehicular combat game does not really fit the mold.

It remains to be seen whether the title can make a turnaround by going the free-to-play route now.