The online shooter LawBreakers (PS4, PC) is not doing well, but the boss Cliff Bleszinski does not want to see it fail. He believes in long-term success, cites Warframe as a role model, but admits to facing difficulties.
Clifford Michael Bleszinski was named one of the 100 most influential game developers of all time by IGN in 2009. He had his heyday at Epic Games, where he was involved in “Unreal” and later took on the lead design for “Gears of War”. Instead of staying in the comfortable role, he stepped back from Epic Games in 2012 and founded the studio “Boss Key Productions” in 2014.
Role model Warframe: Weak start, long-term success
There he worked on LawBreakers, a competitive shooter for PS4 and PC. It was released in August, received good reviews, but struggled to find an audience: Too few people are playing Lawbreakers. It has gone so far that players in some parts of the world can’t find matches anymore.
In an interview with GameSpot, Bleszinski says: Even though the player numbers are low, he has not lost hope. He believes that former players can be brought back and new ones can be won. The role model here is Warframe, which started low but found its success over time.
Bleszinski says, the low player numbers have humbled him – now he wants to change and improve Lawbreakers and try to be less of a jerk.
Started with too little content
He lists the mistakes:
- It didn’t help to launch right in the Destiny era
- He also wants to behave less like a jerk when talking to people online
- It currently doesn’t come across how exciting it is to play Lawbreakers
- They should have started with a Team Deathmatch
- Due to the small and new team in the studio, Lawbreakers may have turned out too small – he should have delayed the launch or been “tougher” on the team
Lawbreakers needs players
LawBreakers never wanted to be compared to Overwatch. While Overwatch is rather colorful and friendly, LawBreakers should be “edgy” – a bit sharper, a bit bolder. Bleszinski didn’t want to have the same archetypes as in every game, but wanted to create a shooter for shooter players.
Currently, the biggest curse of Lawbreakers is the low player count on PC. This is made public by Steam, and people are deterred from buying Lawbreakers.
Bleszinski will do everything to save the game. They want to change the marketing strategy, replace the logo, and offer sales. Right now, they primarily need players to ensure that everyone can find matches, Bleszinski promises to change and adapt Lawbreakers: It’s a marathon, not a sprint.
LawBreakers: The right game at the wrong time
Mein MMO says: It is surely difficult for such a successful man to publicly admit his mistakes. For outsiders, the problems of LawBreakers are probably clearer to see: It is the right game at the wrong time. When LawBreakers was developed in 2014, it was surely a cool idea to develop a competitive shooter – today in 2017, the idea is no longer that exciting. LawBreakers runs against the current zeitgeist that wants to make everything more accessible.
LawBreakers clearly tries to target the “This is not casual – only skill counts here. We are a shooter for shooter players” audience. LawBreakers is already a bit elitist.
The problem: Just the “elite” want to be good in a game that everyone knows and talks about. Being the top player in a game with a small player base is not attractive. Therefore, the situation for LawBreakers is particularly unfavorable.
The new game environment for games like LawBreakers with Twitch and an eSports scene ensures that big games keep getting bigger while small games remain under the radar. Popular games attract popular streamers, who bring in new players. If this doesn’t happen, a game like LawBreakers has a problem.
- These are the initial measures that should help save the game: LawBreakers: More fun through variety & bans! – What patch 1.3 brings
- We also took a look at LawBreakers: LawBreakers in the preview test: New shooter star or Overwatch clone?
