On paper, LawBreakers had a lot going for it, with a big name like Cliff Bleszinski at the head of the studio and some clever ideas to add to the multiplayer first person shooter. It even reviewed fairly well, but simply didn’t sell anywhere near enough copies.
While Nexon pointed fingers at PUBG’s success and Boss Key did continue to add to and update the game for a while, it comes as no surprise that they have now made the public decision to move on from the game. It will continue to be supported as it is now, but any plans for new content or a shift to free to play (which was actually the original plan for the game) have been dropped.
The statement on their site is as follows:
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.
Source: Boss Key
gernboes
I understand not developing new content, but why not go free to play? It would probably increase the playerbase, also helping anybody who already bought it, and if there are microtransactions of any kind, it may even bring them some money…
And going free to play has to be like zero effort, right?
MrYd
Zero effort apart from the changes necessary to add any microtransactions, testing all those changes, submitting updates to Sony, along with the costs for all that and keeping the servers running for the extra players.
They’ve obviously decided that wouldn’t be profitable. And given the low sales, it doesn’t seem likely to attract many extra players, even if it was free.
So it’s more than zero effort for a cost of more than they predict they’d make in return.
gernboes
Are there no microtransactions so far? I have no clue, as i have no interest in the game, i just assumed it would have them already, seeing practicaly every multiplayer centric game seems to have at least cosmetic stuff you can buy/get in loot boxes. If it doesnt have any, then yes, there would be effort obviously…
Although even if you did it just to raise playercount it would probably be better for those who bought it. And changing the prize to zero cant be any effort, or is it? And i dont think it would take off on a level that they would update their servers. It would just add a few weeks of life for the game for those who bought it in the first place.