Sure but the buck has to stop somewhere. At what point do the developers have to take responsibility for making a game that doesn't stand on its own to the eyes of the public? Surely they must have they anticipated being compared to Overwatch and considered taking more active steps in their messaging to address common misconceptions with the game's design.
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LawBreakers' peak concurrent Steam playerbase dropped to 431 today [Up2: Down to 302]
- Thread starter Nirolak
- Start date
Sure but the buck has to stop somewhere. At what point do the developers have to take responsibility for making a game that doesn't stand on its own to the eyes of the public? Surely they must have they anticipated being compared to Overwatch and considered taking more active steps in their messaging to address common misconceptions with the game's design.
Chairmanchuck
Member
While I personally didnt like what I played in the Betas, I would argue they actually did.
Enough streamers played the Betas and it was evident its not OW, but somehow they still said "you have classes, its like Overwatch".
Kinda makes me think that those people dont even have much knowledge about game genres.
The marketing was not really good imo, for sure.
You mean the devs? They are too invested in their game?
Edit: In the case you would go there, laughing at the lack of success for a game or hoping the developers would fail isn't criticism about the product the devs should be able to receive without getting upset or offended.
Turin Turambar
Member
The better game, Battleborn, won.
ScaryShark
Banned
Feels like a game that had no idea what the audience was going to be for it in 2017 and assumed it could just be invented when it came out. Very hard to do. I feel for the people who poured a ton of time in to it to create it but it just seemed like a project that was doomed to this fate for some time.
Mr.Deadshot
Member
That's how I feel about the game. It looks interesting, but there are simply too many other games. And most of them are really time-consuming. The market truly is saturated.
Maybe they can safe the game with a F2P-relaunch.
Starbuck2907
Member
...but matchmaking is still working flawlessly.
I'm a fan of the game. Fun stuff.
I'm a fan of the game. Fun stuff.
Trickster
Member
I actually don't know if the problem was marketing, I just feel like most people and outlets didn't really give it much attention.
I chalk it up to a couple of things
- Artstyle is pretty forgetable
- Arena pvp shooter with heroes by unknown developer
- Not f2p
- Overwatch was already a thing
Huw_Dawson
Member
Folks talking about hero shooters and declining to mention TF2 makes me sad. Ofc that makes the crowded market even more crowded.
Noisepurge
Member
It reminds me of when people were attempting to knock WoW off the top of its tree. Unless you are absolutely bang on, you're not going to make headway. People often only have room for a single time sink in their life and if there is a current form best in class title having fun, you're going to suffer.
Triggerhappytel
Member
I find it odd how everyone seems to be happily charting how its popularity is declining daily. I mean, maybe I'm reading it wrong and people want to use it as a case-study of how to not launch a game in a ferociously competitive genre, but it doesn't feel like a genuine attempt at analysis is the intent behind this topic.
It's not even necessarily about being the best in a given field, but more about offering something standout and unique or having massive marketing so it's too big to fail. Even then, that's no guarantee of success. But given how Overwatch is an enormous success and Paladins is effectively its F2P equivalent, I don't see there being a lot of room for more games competing in the genre.
sleepnaught
Member
Not surprised, last thing we need on PC is another competitive shooter.
It is absolutely a self fulfilling prophecy in that case. All the articles and discussion about population put a LOT of people off and end up doing a lot of harm to a game's population.
It's a shame as it's a great game.
Yay, lets watch it die in real time, FUN TIMES!
SHAFT MASTER
Banned
I'd watch that
Well, I'll still stick it on for a couple of rounds every few days, but a lot of other games are taking up my time and there is only so much time in the day. Rocket League and PUBG are my time-sink multiplayer staples, and there's a ton of single player stuff I just picked up.
I've never had an issue finding a game of Lawbreakers, but with the player count heading in the wrong direction, the issue is that only the hardcore players are going to stick around, and the average skill level of the playerbase is going to end up too high. No game is fun when you just get endlessly destroyed, and I think these current numbers are close to the point where I'll just have to say goodbye to the game for good.
Which, again, is a damn shame.
Damn just feel bad for my man Cola, how are you going to do him like this after Planetside 2?
The guy created the Vault Boy. He's a an absolute legend!
Agent_4Seven
Tears of Nintendo
For which you need to pay.
I mean, imagine that you bought a game for 30$, played for a month or so and enjoyed it and then Boom!, almost no one is playing it and it's getting worse and worse and worse pretty fast to a point when there's no one to play it with. And then you realise that you just payed 30$ for a game which lasted for a month or so at best. F this.
I don't know, maybe i'm alone at this, but i do think that these types of games should always be free to play.
dead monkey uk
Member
I read the graph as dark blue PS4 and Light blue PC so PS4 has more players.
PC is on top of PS4 rather than overlapping.
Still think this game has a future on PS4, Free Weekends, Deal of the Week, PS+ game and Free to Play in that order could keep the game active on PS4.
Angry Fork
Member
Why are people so gleeful about the failure of a game so many people put so much of their time into, and which seems to be good? Very weird and sad.
SomedayTheFire
Member
I don't think graphs work like that.
Those do, if it was like you think it would have only lines instead of coloured areas.
That's the exact opposite of what the developer says each color is.
Messofanego
Banned
How low does a game's online population//concurrent players need to go to become F2P like Brink, Battleborn, Ghost In The Shell First Assault?
Castef
Banned
Wait... "unknown developer" is partly true.
I mean, Cliffy B is a well known name.
Especially on Xbox due to Gears of War. So, I was wondering why the game did not sell well on Xb... OH! nevermind.
How low does a game's online population//concurrent players need to go to become F2P like Brink, Battleborn, Ghost In The Shell First Assault?
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Lmao, more people playing Vanilla DS2
Triggerhappytel
Member
The guy literally says dark blue is PS4 and light blue is PC "laid on top" suggesting that this is a representation of the total numbers when stacked. So the PS4 numbers do appear to be slightly higher, but there's not a lot in it.
Is this guy one of the devs? Low population numbers like this doesn't seem like something you'd be so open about but I do appreciate the transparency. They seem like a good team, it's an acclaimed game and it's a shame to see it crashing so hard like this.
Lmao, more people playing Vanilla DS2
See, this is what bothers me. Why do low player numbers make you "laugh your ass off"?
Yeah, it's a disgusting behaviour. Maybe it's related to age or something.
People want to see things fail, but I'm sure people looove to see CliffyB fail.
Furthermore, it's a way to feel good about a non-purchase, especially if you can feel good about your non-purchase versus people who did pull the trigger.
Admins in red have shown the same behaviour in this topic, updating the declining player count even in the thread title. It's very sensationalist behaviour.
Probably because Cliffy has an off-putting personality, so some (not all) find Schadenfreude in the game underperforming. He has said so himself, in a recent interview.
You'll encounter similar sentiments if a game by Konami or Randy Pitchford goes through a similar fate.
The emails I got for this during the beta were really off putting:
"OH FFFUUUU - LawBreakers Closed Beta #2 is now live!"
"Holy fnck, LawBreakers Closed Beta #2 is here. Details Within!"
Some text from the body of the 2nd email:
"Check out all the details below on the new Closed Beta #2 content you'll be playing and helping test. Oh, and there's no BS NDA. Feel free to stream, create videos, let us know what you think on social -- whatever. We don't care. Own your sh!t."
It's like they were trying to go for the 90s extreme attitude, but in 2017.
"OH FFFUUUU - LawBreakers Closed Beta #2 is now live!"
"Holy fnck, LawBreakers Closed Beta #2 is here. Details Within!"
Some text from the body of the 2nd email:
"Check out all the details below on the new Closed Beta #2 content you'll be playing and helping test. Oh, and there's no BS NDA. Feel free to stream, create videos, let us know what you think on social -- whatever. We don't care. Own your sh!t."
It's like they were trying to go for the 90s extreme attitude, but in 2017.
TheRazielim
Member
Tokki and Sunshine are the best attempts
But no husbandos.
Tbh too 3d for the waifu playerbase.