LawBreakers development halted, free-to-play “takes planning and resources”

Boss Key Productions has finally decided to face reality and admit that LawBreakers, the hyped shooter from Gears of War creator Cliff Bleszinski, has failed. With peak players for the last couple of months sitting at an impressive 25 (twenty-five) according to Steamcharts, this was more than expected.

However, Boss Key isn't willing to make the switch to free-to-play yet, something that Bleszinski himself has admitted as a possibility. This could eventually happen in the future, and considering that LawBreakers already sells stash drops a.k.a. loot boxes, it should be faced as the best option. Sadly, this business model switch apparently “takes publishing planning and resources to do”, as the official statement mentions:

“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.”

Robocraft Royale went from buy-to-play to free-to-play in ONE day, so… Maybe it's not that simple for LawBreakers, and who knows if Nexon is playing some sort of unshakeable part in this process. Judging by the bit where Boss Key says that their new passion project is something that they are “in complete control of”, this could mean that the partnership with Nexon didn't work out and won't continue.

Also, “fresh creative leaders” means that Cliff Bleszinski probably isn't the face of this new project. We'll have to wait and see for more news on this and also on LawBreakers future, which I doubt will sell any more copies at all – unless someone came out from under a rock and decided that this could be a good game to buy right now.