Boss Key Productions Is 'Effectively No More' - LawBreakers - MMORPG.com

SBFord

Boss Key Productions Is 'Effectively No More' - LawBreakers - MMORPG.com

LawBreakers News - Cliff Bleszinski has posted on Twitter that "Boss Key Productions is effectively no more". He further reveals that LawBreakers was a great game that "didn't gain traction" and that Radical Heights was "well received, however, ... too little too late". He further writes that he will be taking time off to spend with his family and to consider whether or not he'll be back "to make something new again someday".

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SBFord

Too bad Radical Heights didn't come out sooner or first. It's actually a fun spin on battle royale.

Panther2103

SBFord said:

Too bad Radical Heights didn't come out sooner or first. It's actually a fun spin on battle royale.

It should have come out more finished. They pushed it out too fast in an attempt to save their company (making an assumption) but the game itself was so buggy and unfinished (even if it was quite fun) that it couldn't keep a playerbase.

I feel bad for Boss Key, it really wasn't managed properly, and Lawbreakers was handled awful as well. I hope all of them find jobs again.

Aeander

Radical Heights was well received by who exactly? I saw exactly 0 positive press for the game.

Panther2103

Aeander said:

Radical Heights was well received by who exactly? I saw exactly 0 positive press for the game.

There were quite a few people I know who liked it. They just always came to the same conclusion that it just wasn't finished enough to stick with yet. 

Grunt350

well viewing this in a bright side this could be what needs for to realize that he must need to change his attitude and his way of acting, if he wants to progress, because his attitude of bad boy with everyone is not going to lead him anywhere anymore. Ps: the concept of radical heights wasn t too bad, but they killed the game by rushing it to fast.

Albatroes

I'm kind of indifferent on all of this. They tried to make something that "held to their ideals" and it flopped then they tried to pretty much recoup their losses by making something that they thought would be easy money and it flopped too. Honestly, I getting a little tired of everyone trying to go into business for themselves.

LrdEtrius

RIP.

alkarionlog

serious a company going out for 2 falied games hardly matters.

btw I didn't even know who it was

Ridrith

Nothing of value was lost when it comes to gaming. He made a poorly received Overwatch/Heroic shooter clone and failed. His next step was to follow the rest of the group into the battle royale arena but was far too late. While also whining about losing talent to company who was already updating and released a far superior version of the game they were trying to crap out to save their company.

I do feel bad for the designers and what not who lost their jobs though. Find work friends!

Wellspring

I hope they're giving refunds to their EA players?

Asch126

"LawBreakers was a great game that "didn't gain traction" and that Radical Heights was "well received, however, ... too little too late"

Damn, not even EA at their scummiest lie that hard.

Aeander

Problem is that the arena shooter is basically a dead genre at this point, to the degree that Unreal and Quake have become non-entities and Halo continually embarasses itself. To succeed, a new arena shooter would have to have both a stellar quality and excellent marketing. Lawbreakers, a good game with poor marketing, just wasn't going to cut it.

Perhaps this is for the best. From the corpse of the arena shooter emerged the hero shooter. I would personally prefer to play an Overwatch over a Quake or Unreal any day. 

SBFord

Radical Heights isn't closing, however. I don't know what that means for future development, but it's good to see it's staying open. Bugs aside, I kinda liked it.

molepeopo

guess he should have stuck with the Gears of War chainsaw gun as his legacy

rojoArcueid

Aeander said:

Radical Heights was well received by who exactly? I saw exactly 0 positive press for the game.

Ninja streamed it on Twitch one day and got over 100k views, just like he did with Fortnite.

That's pretty much it. I'm more sad about Lawbreakers because it had more potential to be a better game, but it failed to separate itself from OW.

Asch126

rojoArcueid said:

Aeander said:

Radical Heights was well received by who exactly? I saw exactly 0 positive press for the game.

Ninja streamed it on Twitch one day and got over 100k views, just like he did with Fortnite.

That's pretty much it. I'm more sad about Lawbreakers because it had more potential to be a better game, but it failed to separate itself from OW.

It got that many views because NINJA streamed it, nothing to do with Radical Heights being good.

jason523

So Cliffy is retiring again.

I like Radical Heights. Never played Lawbreakers as I'm not too much into those games and have Overwatch if I have the urge to play one.

I think the issue is not that the genre is so much as crowded as you need to innovate and not throw public fits when things don't go your way. There is plenty of room for these types of games but you need to stand out. Radical Heights was definitely different and fun but still too raw and needed that extra time in the oven.

Sabrac

It's a pity what happened with BossKey, Lawbreakers was a fun and decent game, too bad they didnt market it well enough and Cliffy B attitude didn't help either.

With Radical Heights everyone saw it coming, they sacrficed their game first impression to put an "Extreme" early access to save their company, doesn't suprise me that it failed.

Solar_Prophet

I feel badly for the people working under him. Cliffy himself can go jump off a bridge for all I care.

Cazriel

Torval said:

Albatroes said:

I'm kind of indifferent on all of this. They tried to make something that "held to their ideals" and it flopped then they tried to pretty much recoup their losses by making something that they thought would be easy money and it flopped too. Honestly, I getting a little tired of everyone trying to go into business for themselves.

I can relate to this. These companies make games with enormous expectations revenue expectations and then move on when they flop. Look at all the failed MMO-ARPGs. Why should I throw money at something unlikely to be around 6 months later? Even somewhat decent games can die like this if they're not popular enough. I'm pretty much done putting effort into them.

I've achieved the same relationship to MMOs these days. I remember hotly anticipating Warhammer, LOTRO, GW, AoC . . . all the way up to ESO. And absolutely nothing since. I read MMO news like it's the National Geographic of newly discovered and soon to be extinct creatures. Hard to get engaged and care about any of what's coming.

pureremedy

Go work for sony playstation

Konner920

I dont think its too late for radical heights, if they dont wanna work on it let someone else do it. Its still better than fork knife, but I do know I will never support Cliffy again with the failure that was Lawbreakers. Everyone told them it wasnt that great through its long beta phase

Kyleran

Is it just a coincidence that studios and games I've never heard of frequently go under?

Perhaps it's indicative of marketing failure if a person like me who somewhat follows gaming has no idea your company even exists.

Aegiris

Kyleran said:

Is it just a coincidence that studios and games I've never heard of frequently go under?

Perhaps it's indicative of marketing failure if a person like me who somewhat follows gaming has no idea your company even exists.

That's what I was thinking. My first thoughts were literally, "Never heard of them."

cameltosis

I haven't played lawbreakers or radical heights but was aware of their existence. 

As an outsider looking in, it seemed to me that Boss Key was simply a studio setup by someone with an ego who thought they could cash in on a bubble, without realising that it was a bubble. As a result, Cliff overestimated the size and stability of the market and arrived too late with products that were too derivative. So, seems natural that the company has folded.