LawBreakers
Fan project to revive LawBreakers gets Cliff Bleszinski's backing, as he eyes the prize of somehow getting Nexon interested: 'That's what I'm hoping for'Apr 16, 2024 - PC GamerReleased in 2017, Lawbreakers was the first game from the now-defunct Boss Key Productions, a studio founded by Cliff Bleszinski following his departure from Epic Games. It was a high-speed, high-skill FPS that slotted neatly into the Unreal Tournament lineage but, despite being really rather good , lasted barely a year before going offline forever ... Read more.LawBreakers is staging an unofficial comeback, five years after it (and its makers) shut downApr 15, 2024 - Rock, Paper, ShotgunFive years after LawBreakers shut down, we're getting to play the gravity-defying multiplayer FPS again thanks to fans. LawBreakers was the first game from Boss Key Productions, a studio co-founded by Gears Of Wars lead designer Cliff Bleszinski, and it had delightful ultraviolence beneath its uninspiring genric look. Alas, it did not sell well. Boss Key closed less than a year after launch, and the game soon followed. But after years of work, a group of fans this weekend successfully ran the first public test for a workaround to play the game again. While there's no clear launch plan yet, more playtesting will follow. Read more Unique but forgotten FPS game brought back from the dead by fansApr 14, 2024 - PCGamesNMaking a successful multiplayer shooter isn't easy. Not everyone can make an Overwatch, Fortnite, Call of Duty, or Apex Legends, and upcoming hero shooters like Marvel Rivals are entering an incredibly popular market in 2024, and we can easily say the same of the shooter space over the last decade too. LawBreakers was one of the unlucky ones, as the low-gravity hero shooter never got the playerbase it needed to lift off the ground, but thanks to a fan campaign for new servers, it might just be coming back. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Cliff Bleszinski asks the CEO of Nexon to bring back his dead FPS game Cliff Bleszinski teases LawBreakers news, after a text from his lawyer Cliffy B says he regrets pushing "woke bro" politics in LawBreakers CliffyB might not be done with making games after all, says 'my LA lawyer' is on the case for a LawBreakers revivalMay 22, 2023 - PC GamerClifford Bleszinski occupies an odd space in the games industry at the moment. The artist formerly known as Cliffy B is a big-budget director of substantial talent who's worked on some best-in-class titles and is still relatively young, but breaking off from Epic Games and setting up on his own didn't go quite as planned: LawBreakers was great , but didn't sell, while Radical Heights was a hail Mary that didn't quite come off either. Since those two misfires Bleszinski has become something of a social media soapboxer and, judging by how he's been angling for a consultancy role on the next Gears, is looking for his way back into games... Read more.CliffyB wants to bring back that game we all definitely remember, LawBreakersApr 24, 2023 - VG247Cliff Bleszinski, director of the hero shooter LawBreakers that shut down in 2018, seemingly wants to bring the game back. I'm not going to judge you if you don't remember LawBreakers, as not many people even played the game. But now, five years after the game shutdown, Bleszinksi (popularly known as CliffyB) is trying to bring it back. Publisher Nexon - who's been in the news recently for lawsuit-related reasons - owns the rights to LawBreakers, having originally published the game and not having sold off the IP at any point. As a result, Bleszinski just flat out tweeted at Nexon's CEO asking about a revival. "Well, turns out Nexon does own the rights to LawBreakers," wrote Bleszinski before tagging Nexon CEO Owen Mahoney and saying, "how about sliding into my DMs so we can talk about a resurrection?" Mahoney hasn't responded to Mahoney's tweet at the time of writing, but unless that guy that runs Twitter decides to make everyone's DMs public, we won't know if they had any contact or not. Read more Gears of War creator Cliff Bleszinski isn't bringing back LawBreakers after all, and he's 'kinda over the whole making games thing'Apr 24, 2023 - PC GamerTurns out Gears of War creator Cliff Bleszinski's mysterious tease about the future of his flopped FPS LawBreakers may have been a bit premature. Two weeks ago, he tweeted "Just got a text from my lawyers about… LawBreakers. Stay tuned" (before launching into a rant against people who "were rooting for the game to fail"), implying some kind of return for the now long-dead game. It's now looking like that was based on a misunderstanding of who holds the game's rights in 2023—a more recent tweet says "Well, turns out Nexon does own the rights to LawBreakers." before appealing to Nexon's CEO to DM him about a resurrection... Read more.Cliff Bleszinski teases news about LawBreakers, the excellent arena shooter that died 5 years agoApr 14, 2023 - PC GamerRemember LawBreakers, the ill-fated competitive FPS that closed down a few months after its developer went defunct? It might not be as dead as you thought. So says Cliff Bleszinski, the game's director, who's been teasing upcoming news about the game over on Twitter... Read more.Cliff Bleszinski teases LawBreakers news, after a text from his lawyerApr 14, 2023 - PCGamesNCliff 'CliffyB' Bleszinski, the creator of Gears of War and founder of erstwhile gaming studio Boss Key Productions, teases news about LawBreakers, the Overwatch and Valorant-esque multiplayer FPS game that closed down in 2018 only a year after its launch. In a somewhat cryptic message, Bleszinski tells fans to "stay tuned" regarding LawBreakers, apparently connected to information he received in a text message from his lawyer. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Cliffy B says he regrets pushing "woke bro" politics in LawBreakers Cliffy B has a game idea, seems mad about it, and it's not a battle royale Cliffy B says he "will NEVER" make another game Cliff Bleszinski swears off making videogames foreverNov 16, 2018 - PC GamerCliff Bleszinski earned fame during his time at Epic on games including Unreal, Gears of War, and, let us never forget, Jazz Jackrabbit. After spending 20 years with the company, he left in 2012 but returned to making games in 2014 with the arena shooter LawBreakers. It was good, which unfortunately wasn't enough to make it a success, and after a last-ditch effort to catch the battle royale train in a game called Radical Heights sputtered out, Bleszinski closed his Boss Key Productions studio earlier this year. It's hard to keep a good man down, especially one as obviously invested in the games industry as Bleszinski, and I said in May that I had no doubt that he'd return to the business one day. Yesterday, however, Bleszinski proved me wrong. The tweet came in response to a "fan" who is apparently unhappy about not getting a refund on LawBreakers. Unsurprisingly, the exchange led to more heat on Twitter, some of it fueled by a back-and-forth between Bleszinski and LawBreakers senior animator Zach Lowery that Bleszinski later described as just "ribbing." I still suspect that Bleszinski could make another game someday, and he's not turning his back on the industry entirely, saying in another tweet that he "will never, ever stop being an advocate for developers." But it's clear that he's in no hurry to bounce back from Boss Key, and under the circumstances I'd say it's hard to blame him. LawBreakers is gone for good, unreleased map art revealedSep 17, 2018 - PC GamerLawBreakers, the high-flying arena FPS created by Cliff Bleszinski's Boss Key Productions, is gone for good. The shutdown date had been set back in June, ending a brief flash of hope that it might have a future as a free-to-play game, and former senior environment artist Josh Rife (who is now filling the same role at Red Storm Entertainment) confirmed just ahead of the weekend that the curtain had fallen on schedule. Rife also shared concept art for an unreleased map called Valhalla, "the craziest shit we ever put together," he tweeted. "We basically said screw arbitrary limits to egregious vertical combat, and made the capture zones super vulnerable. Expert player map for sure." "Valhalla was Bosskey's 10th and final map for LawBreakers. Set in an abandoned Valkyrie training facility in California's Sequoia Natl. Forest, Valhalla stands as a monument to dedication and perseverance," the Artstation description says. "This massive arena hosts all ranges of combat encounter types, including our longest sightlines, and most lethal Capture-The-Battery layout ever. The map was created for a themed, seasonal content drop, internally code-named 'Bloody Christmas', but was unfortunately never released to the public." LawBreakers has also been removed from Steam—the store page link now leads to the front page. Memories. Cliff Bleszinski will address Boss Key failures in new bookAug 20, 2018 - PC GamerDespite glowing reviews, LawBreakers failed to sustain a playerbase. Its free-to-play Early Access follow-up Radical Heights was an unsuccessful roll of the dice—one which led Cliff Bleszinski to shutter Boss Key Productions entirely. Now, Bleszinski is writing a book which will address the studio's failures. Alongside chapters that explore the death of his father, his relationship with his wife, and the end of his first marriage, Bleszinski will talk about his time at the helm of Boss Key and working at Epic Games. "I haven't done any interviews since Boss Key imploded because I needed to tell it in my own words, in my book," said Bleszinski via Twitter. "Did that today. Felt good, like that chapter in my life was finally closed." When asked when the book will be released, Bleszinski replied to one Twitter user saying: "When. It's. Done." As reported by Andy earlier this year, LawBreakers is closing on September 14 and is free-to-play till then. Despite this, Evan reckons it's one of the most underrated games on PC. Cheers, Gamespot. LawBreakers didn t deserve such an ignoble endJul 12, 2018 - Rock, Paper, ShotgunAmong the avalanche of trigger-happy competitive shooters, LawBreakers is an obvious homage to the twitchy, run-and-gunnners of yesteryear like Quake and Doom. Set in an over-the-top, zero-gravity arena, it encourages and demands from its players a mastery of sharpshooting and bullet-pumping. It s a pity this may have deterred many aspiring LawBreakers players, and a double pity that the ill-fated studio is shutting down its servers in September. To be at the receiving end of a dizzying, acrobatic assault is the zenith of this breakneck shooter. There s an artistry to be found in the sleek movements, the speeding bullets, the quick surveying of enemy positions, and the frenetic, instinctive reaction against a flurry of attacks. (more…) What's the most underrated game on PC?Jun 30, 2018 - PC GamerWhat's the most underrated game on PC? This is the subject of the PCG Q&A, where each Saturday (and sometimes on Wednesdays too), we ask the global PC Gamer team for their answers to a burning question. We then encourage you to drop your answers to the same question in the comments thread below. There's no comprehensive answer to this one, obviously, and it's just a bit of fun. We've picked games that either sold badly, were ignored despite having something to offer, or got an unfair kicking at launch by critics or players. Evan Lahti: LawBreakers OK, I'll jump on this grenade: it's LawBreakers. Corners of the gaming community were fixated on making it a punching bag for their amusement, and the "dead game" Reddit groupthink that ultimately suffocated LawBreakers had nothing to do with how good it actually is. Its character movement styles are inventive—the Wraith kick-slides along the ground to accelerate, jabbing the air with a knife to swim forward in low-grav. They can also triple jump and wall jump, a moveset that gives them Wraith a darting, alien locomotion that's enjoyable to master. Gunslingers teleport in short bursts like Tracer from Overwatch, but the first shots from either of their dual pistols are buffed immediately after you blink. If you fly backwards as the Harrier, you shoot lasers from your feet. This is the only FPS I can think of that lets me shoot behind myself, never mind turning it into a way to physically propel myself forward. LawBreakers could've taken a much easier route and simply given everyone jetpacks and focused on unique guns, but instead it got ambitious and built weird, unfamiliar styles of aerial fencing, gunslinging, grenading, and more. It also sported some of the best netcode in years, backed up by expert testing. Jarred Walton: Epistory: Typing Chronicles I don't know that it's underrated, but I recently stumbled upon Epistory: Typing Chronicles, and it's great—and it was also a game I totally missed when it was new. I can thank Steam's Spring Cleaning event for recommending it as a game I should try, and I enjoyed the relatively short story, lovely aesthetic, and the crazy vocabulary. Anyway, I write for a living, so something that puts my typing skills to good use is a welcome diversion, and now I've inflicted my children with the game so that they can hopefully learn to type. My 15-year-old thinks it's great and my 8-year-old hates it (because it's too hard and frustrating). Phil Savage: Dragon Age 2 (oh snap!) It reviewed pretty well, but it would be fair to say that public reaction to BioWare's sequel was... unfavourable. That's fair: a game with only one cave layout shouldn't have so many missions set in a cave. In fact, many criticisms of Dragon Age II are entirely justified, but to write it off because of them would be to miss out on one of the most interesting RPGs Bio...LawBreakers is free from now until the servers shut offJun 13, 2018 - Rock, Paper, ShotgunI feel genuinely sorry for the folks at Boss Key Productions. By all accounts, LawBreakers wasn’t the game that they wanted to make, but they still delivered a pretty polished arena shooter that just never found the audience it was looking for. Publisher Nexon America are keeping the lights on until September, and in order to give the game a proper sendoff, the formerly retail game is now free for all to jump in and play. (more…) Notice About the Future of LawBreakersJun 11, 2018 - Community AnnouncementsDear LawBreakers, In light of the unfortunate news regarding Boss Key Productions shutting down, we regret to announce that we will be sunsetting our support of LawBreakers on September 14, 2018 as we are not able to operate the game. Our servers will remain open until then and the game will be made free-to-play on Steam for all players effective immediately. Please note that any and all new in-game purchases will also be disabled and we will not be able to accept any refund requests. We truly appreciate your understanding in this difficult time and we want to thank you all your support and being a part of the passionate LawBreakers community. Thank you for staying with us throughout this journey. -The LawBreakers Team LawBreakers is closing in September, will be free-to-play until then (Updated)Jun 11, 2018 - PC GamerUpdate: Unfortunately, the free-to-play transition isn't a sign that Nexon is hoping to revive LawBreakers, but simply a way to soften the blow of its looming closure. "In light of the unfortunate news regarding Boss Key Productions shutting down, we regret to announce that we will be sunsetting our support of LawBreakers on September 14, 2018 as we are not able to operate the game," Nexon said in a statement. "Our servers will remain open until then and the game will be made free-to-play on Steam for all players effective immediately. Please note that any and all new in-game purchases will also be disabled and we will not be able to accept any refund requests." Original story: With no fanfare, or even the slightest indication at all that it was going to happen, Boss Key Studio's arena FPS LawBreakers has gone free-to-play Steam. The change is unexpected in part because studio founder Cliff Bleszinski closed developer Boss Key Productions last month. But while that spelled the end of Radical Heights, LawBreakers, which is published by Nexon, can keep the lights on for as long as it likes. (Except, as now noted above, it's not going to.) Nexon hasn't commented on the change as of yet but it wouldn't be unreasonable for it to try rebuilding LawBreakers as a free-to-play title. It's a complete game, after all, and let's not forget it was originally intended to be free-to-play in the first place. The changeover to premium pricing happened so long ago that it's not directly relevant to the current situation, but you can imagine the recriminations that will fly if Nexon is able to make this work. I've reached out to Nexon to ask about the change and will update if I receive a reply. In the meantime, if you've been waiting for a no-risk opportunity to try LawBreakers (especially now that there might be a few people playing it), here you go. Cliff Bleszinski shows three games that could have beenMay 16, 2018 - Rock, Paper, ShotgunThe games industry is an oft-cruel place. For every game that gets greenlit for production, another dozen ideas are rejected. With his studio – Boss Key Productions – now closing its doors after the failure of Radical Heights, head man and former Epic lead Cliff Bleszinski has been sharing concept art and pitches on Twitter for a trio of games that publishers rejected before Nexon decided to fund development of LawBreakers. (more…) Cliff Bleszinski shares art and ideas from other games he'd hoped to make at Boss KeyMay 15, 2018 - PC GamerCliff Bleszinski pulled the plug on Boss Key Productions yesterday, after both LawBreakers and Radical Heights failed to achieve the critical mass required to keep the studio afloat. He said that he was going to "take some time off and reflect," but apparently that doesn't mean he'll be taking a break from Twitter, because today he began sharing some of the ideas he and other members of the studio had for future Boss Key games. DragonFlies is probably my favorite of the bunch: Ninjas on dragons launched from giant airships fighting hordes of zombies in a feudalpunk world of floating islands is a very specific niche, but also very much my niche. (Although to be honest I'm not perfectly clear on what "feudalpunk" is.) DogWalkers also looks cool, at least as far as a couple of pieces of concept art can carry such an impression. Faint echoes of the Battle of Hoth, but on Earth, and... bigger. Donuts, the "silly" one, might seem a little out of character for the designer of Unreal Tournament and Gears of War, but remember that before all that he did Jazz Jackrabbit, and there are a lot of people who wish he'd get back to that kind of thing. "These were not purely my ideas, they were a collaboration between myself and BKP employees," Bleszinski wrote. "Tramell, Zach, Dan, etc.. all worked on them a lot." Interestingly, he also touched on both the problem with publishers in the game industry, and why they're necessary. "You pitch something and the response is often 'too similar to something we have or out there so no' or ' this is too unique so we can't do a proper financial model for it.' I respect them but as a creative it's frustrating," he tweeted. "Side note $40m budget. So not cheap." LawBreakers was a very good game, and it really is a shame that Boss Key couldn't make a go of it. But when Bleszinski comes back—and I have no doubt that he will—I really hope he takes aim at something like one of these instead. Check out some more concept art (which includes female characters for both DragonFlies and Donuts) below. Radical Heights & LawBreakers studio Boss Key shuts downMay 14, 2018 - Rock, Paper, ShotgunAfter LawBreakers failed to strike it rich, many saw studio Boss Key’s decision to rush-release ’80s game-show themed battle royale Radical Heights as proof that the studio was in jeopardy, and that pushing the game out with only one half-finished map available was a wild spin on the wheel of fortune. While starting out free-to-play ensured that the price is right, it just wasn’t enough to hit the jackpot and save the studio from a complete wipeout. Today on Twitter, studio head Cliff Bleszinski announced that Boss Key Productions is no more. (more…) Cliff Bleszinski closes Boss Key ProductionsMay 14, 2018 - PC GamerWith the failure of the arena shooter LawBreakers behind it and Radical Heights apparently unable to gain a sizable enough playerbase, Cliff Bleszinski has announced that Boss Key Productions is being closed. "Four years ago I set out to make a world-class videogame studio and I hired some of the best talent in the videogame industry. They worked tirelessly to produce quality products and, while we had our ups and downs, I'd like to think we had fun doing it," Bleszinski wrote. "LawBreakers was a great game that unfortunately failed to gain traction, and, in a last-ditch attempt we scrambled to do our take on the huge battle royale genre with Radical Heights which was well received, however, it was too little too late." Bleszinski said he hopes to make another new game someday, but for now he's going to "take some time off and reflect." "To those of you who supported myself and the studio these last four years, thank you from the bottom of my heart," he wrote. The Radical Heights servers will remain online "for the near future." Bleszinski's full statement is below. LawBreakers Launches Outside Steam’s Top 100 Most Played GamesAug 9, 2017 - GitHypWhen the beta for LawBreakers in June peaked at 7.5k players on Steam, we suggested that the upcoming class-based shooter could flop. When the second open beta one month later had 40% less players, we knew that the game’s August launch was in trouble.
Now, LawBreakers has officially launched on Steam, and despite very positive reviews, the player counts are lower than ever. 60% lower than the beta to be exact with the game’s launch night topping out at 3k concurrent players.
[caption id="attachment_283131" align="aligncenter" width="795"]
LawBreakers' Peak Concurrent Player Counts on Steam via GitHyp[/caption]
We had originally compared the low player counts to one of last year’s biggest class-based shooter flops, Battleborn. Sadly, that comparison might now be a bit generous considering that Battleborn launched with a peak of 12k players which ranked it as high as #19 on Steam’s most played list.
The beta for LawBreakers hit #73 on Steam at its best, but since the official launch, the playerbase has been struggling to crack Steam’s top 100. With only a peak of 2.7k players on Tuesday and daily lows already close to dropping below 1k concurrent players, it’s unlikely that LawBreakers will be able to do much better in its current state.
Considering how low the numbers already are just two days in, it’ll be interesting to see what Cliff Bleszinski and his team at Boss Key have planned next for their new IP. LawBreakers was at one point supposed to be free-to-play, but even removing the price barrier after launch is rarely enough to save a struggling new IP.Lawbreakers’ Final Beta Player Counts Down 40% Compared to Previous Beta on SteamAug 1, 2017 - GitHypDespite a heavy marketing push at E3 this summer, LawBreakers’ player counts were much lower than expected when the previous beta peaked at only 7.5k players one month ago.
Such low numbers were a strong indicator that the game could be following in the footsteps of other recent hero shooter flops like Battleborn, and now the game’s second and final open beta one week before launch is backing up those claims.
[caption id="attachment_281179" align="aligncenter" width="800"]
LawBreakers Beta Player Counts on Steam via GitHyp[/caption]
Over this past weekend, LawBreakers saw its playerbase decrease by almost half. At its peak on Steam, LawBreakers brought in 4.5k players in a single hour on Friday and those numbers dropped on Saturday to 3.7k and 3.1k on Sunday. A 40% drop in peak players when compared to the closed beta on June 28.
LawBreakers had a lot hype going for it back when it was first announced as Project BlueStreak back in 2015, but since then, it seems like more and more people have been jumping off the hype train with all signs pointing to a weak launch on August 8, 2017.LawBreakers Could Flop Based on Player Counts from the Steam BetaJul 10, 2017 - GitHypThere’s been a lot of hype leading up to the release of Cliff Bleszinksi’s new class-based shooter, LawBreakers. And with all the positive media coverage regarding the outspoken Gears of War creator’s latest project, you would think the game is on track to become another successful competitive shooter… however, that might not be case after looking at the early player counts during the game’s beta on Steam.
LawBreakers’ closed beta began on June 28 with the open beta starting two days later. Over the course of its eight days on Steam, the beta brought in a peak of 7.5k players in a single hour with the daily averages reaching as high as 3.5k players per hour over the weekend. Those lower-than-expected numbers were only enough to rank LawBreakers as high as No. 73 on Steam’s list of most played games last week.
Learning from the mistakes of Gearbox’s Battleborn, Bleszinksi and his team at Boss Key have been using LawBreakers’ more realistic art direction to try and separate themselves from being compared to Blizzard’s wildly successful hero shooter, Overwatch. However, it is worth comparing two of last year’s most talked about new hero shooters on Steam to predict LawBreakers’ success based on early player counts.
[caption id="attachment_276571" align="aligncenter" width="800"]
LawBreakers' Beta Players Per Hour via GitHyp[/caption]
Out of all the new games released on Steam in 2016, Paladins retained the highest players per hour average. The free-to-play hero shooter’s beta debuted with a peak 38k players during its first weekend last September and still ranks in Steam’s top 20 most played games averaging 25k concurrent players every day.
With the beta having 80% less players than Paladins’ first week in early access, the numbers for LawBreakers actually align more with one of last year’s biggest flops, Battleborn. Gearbox’s failed attempt to go head-to-head with Overwatch debuted with an average of 4.5k players per hour last May and is now dangerously close to dropping below 100 players per hour.
It’s worth noting that the beta for LawBreakers also took place during the Steam Summer Sale – and it could be argued that the platform’s most popular week of the year helped or hurt the beta. While more users than normal were logging in to Steam last week looking for new games to play, those same users could have been more enticed to play games that were heavily discounted instead of the beta for LawBreakers.
Early beta player counts also don’t guarantee a game’s success or failure, but a free-to-play open beta weekend for such a highly anticipated game not even debuting in Steam’s top 50 is certainly cause for concern. We’ll know for certain if LawBreakers is a hit or miss on Steam when it launches next month on August 8, 2017.
LawBreakers' Peak Concurrent Player Counts on Steam via GitHyp[/caption]
We had originally compared the low player counts to one of last year’s biggest class-based shooter flops, Battleborn. Sadly, that comparison might now be a bit generous considering that Battleborn launched with a peak of 12k players which ranked it as high as #19 on Steam’s most played list.
The beta for LawBreakers hit #73 on Steam at its best, but since the official launch, the playerbase has been struggling to crack Steam’s top 100. With only a peak of 2.7k players on Tuesday and daily lows already close to dropping below 1k concurrent players, it’s unlikely that LawBreakers will be able to do much better in its current state.
Considering how low the numbers already are just two days in, it’ll be interesting to see what Cliff Bleszinski and his team at Boss Key have planned next for their new IP. LawBreakers was at one point supposed to be free-to-play, but even removing the price barrier after launch is rarely enough to save a struggling new IP.Lawbreakers’ Final Beta Player Counts Down 40% Compared to Previous Beta on SteamAug 1, 2017 - GitHypDespite a heavy marketing push at E3 this summer, LawBreakers’ player counts were much lower than expected when the previous beta peaked at only 7.5k players one month ago.
Such low numbers were a strong indicator that the game could be following in the footsteps of other recent hero shooter flops like Battleborn, and now the game’s second and final open beta one week before launch is backing up those claims.
[caption id="attachment_281179" align="aligncenter" width="800"] LawBreakers Beta Player Counts on Steam via GitHyp[/caption]
Over this past weekend, LawBreakers saw its playerbase decrease by almost half. At its peak on Steam, LawBreakers brought in 4.5k players in a single hour on Friday and those numbers dropped on Saturday to 3.7k and 3.1k on Sunday. A 40% drop in peak players when compared to the closed beta on June 28.
LawBreakers had a lot hype going for it back when it was first announced as Project BlueStreak back in 2015, but since then, it seems like more and more people have been jumping off the hype train with all signs pointing to a weak launch on August 8, 2017.LawBreakers Could Flop Based on Player Counts from the Steam BetaJul 10, 2017 - GitHypThere’s been a lot of hype leading up to the release of Cliff Bleszinksi’s new class-based shooter, LawBreakers. And with all the positive media coverage regarding the outspoken Gears of War creator’s latest project, you would think the game is on track to become another successful competitive shooter… however, that might not be case after looking at the early player counts during the game’s beta on Steam.
LawBreakers’ closed beta began on June 28 with the open beta starting two days later. Over the course of its eight days on Steam, the beta brought in a peak of 7.5k players in a single hour with the daily averages reaching as high as 3.5k players per hour over the weekend. Those lower-than-expected numbers were only enough to rank LawBreakers as high as No. 73 on Steam’s list of most played games last week.
Learning from the mistakes of Gearbox’s Battleborn, Bleszinksi and his team at Boss Key have been using LawBreakers’ more realistic art direction to try and separate themselves from being compared to Blizzard’s wildly successful hero shooter, Overwatch. However, it is worth comparing two of last year’s most talked about new hero shooters on Steam to predict LawBreakers’ success based on early player counts.
[caption id="attachment_276571" align="aligncenter" width="800"] LawBreakers' Beta Players Per Hour via GitHyp[/caption]
Out of all the new games released on Steam in 2016, Paladins retained the highest players per hour average. The free-to-play hero shooter’s beta debuted with a peak 38k players during its first weekend last September and still ranks in Steam’s top 20 most played games averaging 25k concurrent players every day.
With the beta having 80% less players than Paladins’ first week in early access, the numbers for LawBreakers actually align more with one of last year’s biggest flops, Battleborn. Gearbox’s failed attempt to go head-to-head with Overwatch debuted with an average of 4.5k players per hour last May and is now dangerously close to dropping below 100 players per hour.
It’s worth noting that the beta for LawBreakers also took place during the Steam Summer Sale – and it could be argued that the platform’s most popular week of the year helped or hurt the beta. While more users than normal were logging in to Steam last week looking for new games to play, those same users could have been more enticed to play games that were heavily discounted instead of the beta for LawBreakers.
Early beta player counts also don’t guarantee a game’s success or failure, but a free-to-play open beta weekend for such a highly anticipated game not even debuting in Steam’s top 50 is certainly cause for concern. We’ll know for certain if LawBreakers is a hit or miss on Steam when it launches next month on August 8, 2017.
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