Nearly five years after it was discontinued, seasoned game creator Cliff Bleszinksi has urged publisher Nexon to start discussions about perhaps bringing his unsuccessful first-person shooter Lawbreakers back to life.
The now-defunct Boss Key Productions developed an exclusive PS4 game that received favorable reviews when published in August 2017 but failed to gain popularity. Boss Key Productions, Bleszinski’s production company, was disbanded before the LawBreakers servers were shut down.
According to Bleszinski, the deceased shooter’s lawyer provided him with information on the IP earlier this month, and he had advised supporters to “stay tuned” for updates.
Well, turns out Nexon does own the rights to LawBreakers. @owenmahoney how about sliding into my DMs so we can talk about a resurrection?
— Cliff Bleszinski (@therealcliffyb) April 19, 2023
He followed up with a tweet late last week indicating that he had learned that publisher Nexon owned the intellectual property. He consequently requested communication from Nexon CEO Owen Mahoney.
In subsequent tweets, Bleszinski clarified his intentions, saying he wasn’t interested in actively developing a new game but would be prepared to offer advice on any future rebirth.
Lawbreaker tanked due to a lack of gamers
Eight months after the game’s launch, in April 2018, Boss Key issued the following statement: “The fact is, LawBreakers failed to find enough of an audience to earn the funds necessary to keep it sustained in the manner we had initially planned for and anticipated.
According to Bleszinski, releasing the game on the PS4 instead of the Xbox One was a mistake. Additionally, he cited Nexon’s poor marketing, which led to a public argument with former Nexon vice president Vlad Coho, who called LawBreakers the biggest failure of 2017.
Even though switching to free-to-play might seem the most straightforward move, one of this magnitude requires publishing, preparation, and resources. In September 2018, LawBreakers was pulled off.
In the past, Blaszinski expressed surprise at the groundswell of interest in a prospective LawBreakers rebirth, given that the game’s initial release was mainly a failure by the standards of his earlier works.
When the game was supposed to fail, Bleszinksi said, “It confuses me how people are now overwhelmingly supporting it.” He added that gamers are confusing people.
