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Lawbreakers dropped to 10 users online.

Not all games are made around satisfying moment to moment gameplay. Some games try to engage the player across a far longer arc and this gradual journey is where people draw satisfaction from. If it's not for you, that doesn't make it overrated or bad. It's unhealthy to conflate the two.

I, for example, have never enjoyed the way the classic Mega Man games are structured how you are expected to learn stages through trial and error. Just not my kind of thing. That's all. Still great games that are great at what they do.

I agreed that it worked for the community, just not for me, and I qualified my statement that the games are overrated by saying "For me personally..." And I acknowledged why people like those games.
 

Belker

Member
I have no ill will towards the game or the team that worked on it. However, I've just realised that each player would have to spend $100 million on in-game items to make it a billion dollar franchise.
 
The whole constant forum posts and articles about what player numbers they were sat at did so much harm to the player numbers. If all the people talking about Lawbreakers low player numbers actually bought Lawbreakers things would be pretty different.

Well the people who actually did buy the game don't seem to want to play it at all so more sales wouldn't necessarily save it either.
 
I can add my anecdotal reason for not playing.

All the ads and promotional material told me how difficult the game was to play. How it is so hard to master.
As a casual online player of shooters. Why would I want to just get my ass handed to me all day long.

For me it tried to appeal to the hardcore audience, which is fine, but it severely limits who will pick it up and give it a go.
Why would I play this when other team based shooters seem more noob friendly.
 

Budi

Member
I can add my anecdotal reason for not playing.

All the ads and promotional material told me how difficult the game was to play. How it is so hard to master.
As a casual online player of shooters. Why would I want to just get my ass handed to me all day long.

For me it tried to appeal to the hardcore audience, which is fine, but it severely limits who will pick it up and give it a go.
Why would I play this when other team based shooters seem more noob friendly.
It has skill based matchmaking! Which ofcourse doesn't really work well with extremely low playerbase.
 
Played the beta, bought it at launch. The game is fun and a legit good game. If I had to give a rating, it would be an 8.3. With that said, it was always an "in-between" game for me, as I was waiting for Destiny 2. Doesn't help that I don't have any friends playing the game, so after non-stop solo-queue, I stopped playing.

I wish they went F2P from the beginning. I don't think it will save them now. Too many games are out, and the shooter market has been gobbled up by PUBG, Fortnite, and the mainstays like OW, CS:GO, etc. Then Destiny 2 + SW:BF2 are coming out right around the corner for PC.

A combo of bad timing, the phenomenon known as PUBG, marketing woes, and erroneous OW clone comparisons that stuck (see marketing woes), and price tag sucked the life out of what is a really good game. Shame overall.

The Lawbreakers dev team are really talented though, and I hope they find success in the future.
 

Veins

Unconfirmed Member
The marketing was so aggressive and "edgy" plus when you have something like Overwatch with its characters and artsytle worked on for years and you show up with dudebro marines in space, there was no way it was going to end well.
 
The marketing was so aggressive and "edgy" plus when you have something like Overwatch with its characters and artsytle worked on for years and you show up with dudebro marines in space, there was no way it was going to end well.

Wouldn't be surprised if Cliffy was responsible for the advertising direction too. What was that other shooter that he made that bombed? The game was also trying so hard to be edgy.
 

Budi

Member
The marketing was so aggressive and "edgy" plus when you have something like Overwatch with its characters and artsytle worked on for years and you show up with dudebro marines in space, there was no way it was going to end well.
This "dudebro" doesn't fit with a game that is so inclusive as Lawbreakers, sure find the designs dull and unappealing if you will.
 

ShdwDrake

Banned
This "dudebro" doesn't fit with a game that is so inclusive as Lawbreakers, sure find the designs dull and unappealing if you will.

The game isn't presented that way tho. Its very much presented as a very "dudebro" shooter.

maxresdefault-1.jpg
 
Actually come to think of it, but are those guys stuck in an eternal 5 v 5 tourny battle? Or maybe the stakes are higher like Lord of the Flies and it's a brutal Battle Royale thing happening in there.
 

Budi

Member
The game isn't presented that way tho. Its very much presented as a very "dudebro" shooter.
How? I honestly don't get it and how that picture is supposed to show that. I can give you edgy at best with the cursing and "skilled AF". Though even with the cursing I don't understand GAF:s fascination about it. We have people here who curse in academic papers and then wonder why they got an F. And I once pointed out to OP that was very liberally throwing curse words around and I was met with responses of "we are all adults here, there's nothing wrong with swearing". And I also see the abbreviation AF used all the time, unironically.
 

Kayant

Member
The whole constant forum posts and articles about what player numbers they were sat at did so much harm to the player numbers. If all the people talking about Lawbreakers low player numbers actually bought Lawbreakers things would be pretty different.

The game really should go f2p though. I'm baffled it hasn't already, how are Nexon not helping push this? Go f2p, make a big noise about it, give those who bought the game up to that point a bunch of free loot boxes, game is supported by loot boxes.

Unless they want to get the game to a certain point before making the transition. The marketing support has been absolutely terrible too, Nexon seem to give zero care.

This post on Reddit breaks it down pretty well -https://www.reddit.com/r/lawbreakers/comments/75ysdy/advice_to_save_the_game/
The thing is F2P isn't an automatic fix or a permanent one. Saying these things in practice is nice but fails to look at the other factors/what it actually means by going F2P.

F2P doesn't mean people will come in droves none does it mean they will stay. More importantly it doesn't mean they will support the game unless the purchase model is done in a way that incentives them to. Also will those players be enough to support the running of the game. etc.

I do agree with the not suggestion because it definitely is a big issue when you have games like this where experienced players are left VS new players.

Ultimately if they weren't already considering it remodeling the game for F2P at this point would likely mean either completely stopping patch updates for now or heavily reducing resources towards it due to their team size ATM. Sure they did have plans in the beginning for it so should be as long as a process but they likely would be reconsidering some things given they gave up on the model for a reason before.

From my viewpoint like with Evolve (which a perfect example of how things could work out) there just seems to not be enough of an audience to support this kind of game.
 

Jobbs

Banned
I think it was largely a visual design/personality problem, since by many accounts the gameplay is pretty good (that and there being a lot of competition in the online shooter game).

The characters aren't memorable. They're all sort of the same grey looking generic sci fi soldier people. While a couple may be a bit interesting looking, overall they're just so generic and forgettable. Compare that to Overwatch where every single character is highly distinctive and appealing.

300px-Axel_cutout.png


Like, where's the creativity? Who hasn't seen this exact bland generic badass dude a thousand million times before?
 
Overwatch
Pubg
Counter Strike
DOTA
LoL

The fact that so many keep answering this comment with a list of basically the same games pretty much tells the story. This summaries is dilated by juggernauts of the industry and if you plan to compete you better bring the whole nine yards. I haven't heard anyone talking about the game other than its dying.
 

BLAUcopter

Gold Member
ao3hEcb.jpg


What happened? What was so bad about this game that everyone avoided it like the plague? Is it the price point? Was it the game?

I don't see how this game tanked so hard in a week where nothing big was releasing.
Omg 10? Wow.
 

MUnited83

For you.
I think it was largely a visual design/personality problem, since by many accounts the gameplay is pretty good (that and there being a lot of competition in the online shooter game).

The characters aren't memorable. They're all sort of the same grey looking generic sci fi soldier people. While a couple may be a bit interesting looking, overall they're just so generic and forgettable. Compare that to Overwatch where every single character is highly distinctive and appealing.

300px-Axel_cutout.png


Like, where's the creativity? Who hasn't seen this exact bland generic badass dude a thousand million times before?
Yeah, it's one of the biggest issues with the game. The visuals are overly bland and busy. It's a game where each character is vastly vastly different in terms of gameplay, yet you can't see what character you're up against until you're right on their face.
 

Randomizer

Member
Kind of poor taste how people are revelling in and laughing at the misfortune of CliffyB and the rest of the Lawbreakers team. Couldn't imagine putting your heart into a passion project for 2 years, risking it all, for this to end up happening.

PC multiplayer scene is so competitive with 10 big games having like 80% of the player base. I'm sure consoles aren't any better but we don't really have the numbers for those. Gamers are creatures of habit and also very sheep like. Playing whatever is popular or whatever their friends all play. Crazy how many people will play the same games endlessly. It's maddening to me, I need variety in my life.
 

M3d10n

Member
Every MP-only game without a large hype and/or marketing effort behind it risks that fate nowadays. The player base is part of the game's "content": if the game fails to build an active player base, it will trigger a death spiral where less people playing cause people to play less.
 

Jobbs

Banned
Kind of poor taste how people are revelling in and laughing at the misfortune of CliffyB and the rest of the Lawbreakers team. Couldn't imagine putting your heart into a passion project for 2 years, risking it all, for this to end up happening.

I'm not reveling or laughing. I know that very talented people worked hard on this.

I do think that Cliffy B is a bit of a target, though, and maybe some experience some schadenfreude because of him. In interviews he comes across as very cocky and throws shade at "other" games. "We aren't doing all that stupid shit other games are doing. We're doing our own fucking thing" etc. People don't respond well to that attitude.
 
Sad stuff. Forget the Cliffy B aspect, it's been well documented. But failures like this drive good developers into other tech fields and out of gaming. Hope the fallout at the studio isn't too rough

Yes, it's sad. People put hard work and long hours into these games. To spite one man, it's not worth it. People's livelihoods and families are at risks when a game does bad.
 

ozfunghi

Member
Honestly... it doesn't appeal to me one bit. If it came as F2P to Switch, maybe i'd play it on the go to kill some time every now and then, providing there is an internet connection. I played my share of UT at the dawn of the new millenium, but jeez... The level design looks boring as hell.
 

sibarraz

Banned
I wonder which lessons have learned the industry as a whole thanks to this game.

It will have some kind of influence on how you market your games.
 
This "dudebro" doesn't fit with a game that is so inclusive as Lawbreakers, sure find the designs dull and unappealing if you will.
I agree with this statement. The game has a very diverse cast of characters, surprisingly. But dull, the colour feels muted.
 
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