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Boss Key Productions is moving on from Lawbreakers; working on new project

Deleted member 1185

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Oct 25, 2017
1,261
http://bosskey.com/news/uncategorized/april-2018-studio-statement/

TLDR:

-Game failed to find an audience
-A lot of work required to switch it to F2P (unclear if its coming but it sounds like it wont be soon)
-Will continue to be supported in 'current state'
-Studio is moving on to new projects

Full statement

LawBreakers Community,

It has been a while since we said anything about LawBreakers. With that, the past four months at Boss Key Productions has been especially trying, as we pride ourselves at being communicative and transparent.

So here is the very real truth, which may not come as a surprise.

The fact is LawBreakers failed to find enough of an audience to generate the funds necessary to keep it sustained in the manner we had originally planned for and anticipated. And while a pivot to free-to-play may seem like easiest change to make, a change of this magnitude takes publishing planning and resources to do it.

The team here has worked hard on this game over the past three and a half years and our studio is determined to give this game the second life it deserves. However, between now and then, we cannot sit idle. We will continue to support the game in its current state, but we also need to focus on other projects with fresh creative leaders. We have been working on something new and we can't wait to share more about it! It's a passion project that we're in complete control of.

Thank you for your ongoing understanding and patience.

Boss Key Productions
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...


Sad to see hard work of so many people not pay off but the game just failed on every level to market itself and appeal to an audience.

Edit: Updated post to clarify and correct summary
 
Cess007

Cess007

Member
Oct 27, 2017
14,135
B.C., Mexico
Damn, hopefully they find success soon in another project.

Also, for some reason, when I read Boss Key I thought it was related to the Marks Brown's series and I was confused with the title lol
 
OP
OP

Deleted member 1185

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
1,261
Shao Kahn said:
"Too much work required to switch it to F2P".

Oh c'mon... :(
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I updated the OP. Thats how i read it at first but they say theyre committed to giving it a second life - its not clear if thats the f2p route but I think it is and theyre just saying itll take a while to get there so they have to get other projects going in the meantime
 
DrBo42

DrBo42

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
3,760
Hope they manage to find even small success on the next one. Can't be easy for the team.
 
Heart_Attack

Heart_Attack

Banned
Nov 1, 2017
2,442
I guess people can now stop posting this silly active daily player stats while cheering for the game to fail.
 
CalamityPixel

CalamityPixel

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,810
Hopefully they get back out there with something cool. They have a lot of talented people on their team :)
 

srtrestre

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
18,972
Did interest for this game suddenly fall off a cliffy or did it get zero interest from the start?
 
Z-Brownie

Z-Brownie

Member
Nov 6, 2017
3,913
The sad part is ... I played it once when it was in beta and it was really cool ... too bad, i can see Quake going down the same road
 
Print_Dog

Print_Dog

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,515
As they should....

It's hard to believe how poorly that game was received. Bad timing. I hope that their next project has a single player aspect.
 

Deleted member 36578

Dec 21, 2017
26,561
Wait, so they aren't even going free to play? Not even going to try that? Just give the game away!!! At least see if there's an audience for it .

And I'm not even suggesting they waste development time to make the game a f2p model. Don't plan on turning this game into a profitable ip. Just put it in the hands of players to see if anyone has fun with it .
 
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OldMuffin

Member
Nov 1, 2017
1,179
I kind of hope their next thing has a single player component. I loved lawbreakers for the time I was able to play it but all added up that was barely 2 hours since I could barely find any matches.
 
rocket

rocket

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,306
Probably a wise move since going F2P doesn't gurantee it will work, I mean DE dropped their F2P hero shooter TAE after beta due to competitive market.
 
saenima

saenima

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
11,892
CPiPaEq.png


Damn. When you are literally the only person in the world doing something.


To go F2P they would need to change a lot of things, otherwise it would just go the same way.
 
KDC720

KDC720

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,334
By all accounts it seemed the game was decent/good so it sucks it never really took off.

It was the wrong game at the wrong time I suppose.
 
ZeoVGM

ZeoVGM

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
76,219
Providence, RI
It's a shame that this is how the game ended up but the fault lies on the game itself.

As a hero shooter, it's a complete failure. The art design is awful and the characters are completely bland, boring and forgettable.

As just a shooter, it's just okay. But when you're specifically trying to compete against Overwatch, you can't have bad characters and gameplay that's "just okay."
 
forrest

forrest

â–˛ Legend â–˛
Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,526
Looking forward to whatever they are working on next. Shame about Lawbreakers, but it wasn't meant to be.

Hope they aren't working on a Battle Royale...
 
fracas

fracas

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,652
I'm not too surprised. They failed at marketing a bad game. Hopefully the next effort finds an audience.
 
Shola Akinnuso

Shola Akinnuso

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,495
Henderson, NV
i still believe that this is one of those games that would've stood out from the crowd and benefitted from a SWITCH port. Even as the SWITCH becomes a battleground of indie releases, there's nothing like lawbreakers (or Fortnite) on the console. Even without F2P, this would've been an instant hit, I think...
 
Xer0

Xer0

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
330
A goddamn shame. This game was great. One of my few few Platinums of 2017.
 
ArmsofSleep

ArmsofSleep

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
7,833
Washington DC
Hate to be negative, but it's just too hard in the modern industry to have a bad game with bad marketing and succeed. There's too much going on, there's too many high quality F2P games, and mid tier devs are going to have to be a lot more careful.
 

Samsquanchewans

User Permed at their request
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,257
#NOTJAPAN
Runwhiteboyrun

Runwhiteboyrun

Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
1,058
Still amazing to me that the player count is that low. I mean I know I make an odd assumption that every NES game released is being played by someone somewhere in the world at all times, but it's still nuts.
 

Herbz

Alt account
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
589
Depressing.

What happened to Lawbreakers? It was a solid fun game.
 
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LordofPwn

LordofPwn

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,402
Now go simplify it, call it Blitzball or Blitzball League and give it a more inviting aesthetic and you might be able to turn it around like Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars did.

Lawbreakers was fun to play it just didnt look good and the tone was all off. and blitzball felt like it could be NBA JAM but with guns. and that right there would have sold 10x copies.
 
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