You could literally replace "Overwatch" with "Lawbreakers" and it'd be just the same as your comment. You just like one of them more than the other. People like different games. I don't know what you mean or why you'd want a game to "stop sucking the Oxygen from PC market".
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
LawBreakers' launch numbers are much lower than Battleborn's - PCGamesN
- Thread starter Marcel
- Start date
You could literally replace "Overwatch" with "Lawbreakers" and it'd be just the same as your comment. You just like one of them more than the other. People like different games. I don't know what you mean or why you'd want a game to "stop sucking the Oxygen from PC market".
There's more people playing "thehunter: call of the wild" than lawbreakers which is saying something. In the "global top sellers" list there's only one game that scores fewer players (during prime time i might add, atleast in eu), and that's a game called "startup company".
Maybe should've gone the f2p route. Maybe.
Maybe should've gone the f2p route. Maybe.
I know right, why can't we all get along and support games as a whole, games can coexist and we don't have to shit on the competi-
Oh. 🙃
Messofanego
Banned
You don't want good products to fail, yet you go after Overwatch which needs to stop "sucking the oxygen from the PC market"? Quite the contradiction there.
Niceguydan8
Member
Not really. Wanting the game to stop sucking the oxygen from the PC market =/= "I want this game to fail."
I don't agree with the sentiment regardless, but it's not actually contradictory.
GrandHarrier
Member
What does "stop sucking the oxygen from the PC market" even mean? That they want people to play other games than the one/s they are happy with???
Niceguydan8
Member
I don't really know. Maybe something like "it's so big that it's not allowing other games to enter?"
I mean, I don't agree with that, people can play whatever they want, but that doesn't come off as an "I want Overwatch to fail" statement.
Do you not see the savage hypocrisy displayed on your post?
You're pleading people to not wish games to fail, yet immediately switch to shit on OW and wishing it to stop being successful.
How the fuck it isn't?
Sucking the oxygen = sucking players into the game.
Wanting it to stop means wanting it to fail so the players move to other games.
Niceguydan8
Member
Before I start this, I will note that I personally do not feel this way about OW. I think it's just fine where it is and not "sucking oxygen" or whatever.
Would the game "fail" if it had half of the playerbase that it has now? If no, (the answer is probably no) then it's entirely possible for the game to still be successful, just be less successful.
Why do some people seem to think that not wanting one extreme means that the same person supports the other extreme? It seems like really bad logic. There is a lot of middle ground, and just jumping to the exact opposite of the assumption just seems kind of ignorant.
Raylan Targaryen
Member
LawBreakers failed because Clifford B can't leave the 90s (tried to sell his game as not for babies, we curse and are for adults!) and no one gives a fuck about arena shooters outside of trying to seem elitist on the internet.
Arena shooters are to FPS what 3rd Strike is to fighting games. Almost no one played it but saying you're a huge fan of it gives off the impression you're a Hardcore Gamer™ and instantly gives you +100 to your GamerCred™
Arena shooters are to FPS what 3rd Strike is to fighting games. Almost no one played it but saying you're a huge fan of it gives off the impression you're a Hardcore Gamer™ and instantly gives you +100 to your GamerCred™
Overwatch is beyond the possibility of failure, has been for a long time. What the poster was saying that because of Overwatch, smaller games get less of a chance. Since Overwatch is sucking all the oxygen. Nobody is hoping for Blizzard to collapse and burn (in this thread atleast). Just that people would see beyond Overwatch too, not compare everything to it and not dismiss everything because of it. Why not both(and more)?
I agree.
Its like some weird victim hood. Maybe the government should limit how many people can play overwatch and force others to play this.
I mean what the hell. Heaven forbid people play what they want. It's a free market where the masses choose what to play. How many shooters fail trying to compete with CS or COD?
This game is so generic and uninspiring it's not really any surprise.
OdysseusVA
Banned
Thats literally his thing. Just ignore.
...What?????
Anyways... Yep, that's a bomb. It actually looked kinda cool to me, but it seems like the little bubble of hero-based shooters that formed a while back, with Lawbreakers, Overwatch, Gigantic, Battleborn, etc. has already popped.
Again, let's not get LawBreakers' situation confused just because it's doing worse than the biggest hero shooter going right now. They're published and have development pipeline support from Nexon, a multi-billion dollar company. Where are they right now as far as marketing and controlling the narrative? Surely they could have/could be doing more instead of just shoving this game out the door to die.
See, a lot of people say the issue is marketing, but how many people here have heard of this game before, but hadn't heard of Lawbreakers before this thread?
It did kind of just drop without any real coverage, and the last time I heard any mention of the game was CliffyB going on the press tour like three years ago talking up the concept(long before it was a thing yet).
I also do not follow this genre closely or am interested in playing most any competitive shooters. Had no idea it finally released until this thread, so its kind of a problem on both ends. I was lucky to recall the old interviews, but who else would? Or even knew as you wonder?
So is this focusing on just the PC we're talking about? or on multiple platforms that the games are available on?
If anything else, I probably wouldn't be surprised that Lawbreakers was met with the exact same problem as Battleborn, which is called "Overwatch." Mind you that much like Battleborn, you can probably point out the vast number of differences between the two games, but probably goes without saying that Overwatch probably doesn't make it any easier for other shooter games that come out.
It would be nice if Lawbreakers did have a "multi-platform" release, but you know what they said about the other platforms "not having enough buttons."
If anything else, I probably wouldn't be surprised that Lawbreakers was met with the exact same problem as Battleborn, which is called "Overwatch." Mind you that much like Battleborn, you can probably point out the vast number of differences between the two games, but probably goes without saying that Overwatch probably doesn't make it any easier for other shooter games that come out.
It would be nice if Lawbreakers did have a "multi-platform" release, but you know what they said about the other platforms "not having enough buttons."
Niceguydan8
Member
Like most cases, it's people extrapolating PC numbers over to the PS4 userbase. It could be right, but there are also a lot of reasons why that sort of assumption could be misleading and problematic.
I don't know much about Nexon, I know that Bosskey has done hell of a job with the game. But sure, fuck you Nexon for doing poor job.
I wonder if the Switch has audience for this kind of game. But in the other hand, there's nothing like it on the platform. So that would be a benefit.
The original article is from a site focused on PC games. I couldn't tell you what the PS4 numbers are, the perception of activity on that platform or if those numbers are even reported anywhere. I'm sure there are PS4 players here that could tell you what their experience has been like.
You get matches fast on both platforms.
UltimateUnknown
Member
This entire argument of OW stopping other shooters from succeeding was the exact same argument that has been said about COD for years and how that game has led to the failure of other MP FPSs.
Let's face it. COD isn't really the reason why a lot of similar FPSs failed. They failed because those games tried to cheaply imitate COD. It took a game like OW, which provides a completely different experience than COD to break through as the next big franchise in the shooter market.
I'm certain if Lawbreakers provides a truly unique and overall great experience compared to everything else in the market right now, it will find much better success than what it's getting.
Let's face it. COD isn't really the reason why a lot of similar FPSs failed. They failed because those games tried to cheaply imitate COD. It took a game like OW, which provides a completely different experience than COD to break through as the next big franchise in the shooter market.
I'm certain if Lawbreakers provides a truly unique and overall great experience compared to everything else in the market right now, it will find much better success than what it's getting.
alfredofroylan
Member
At 3PM Central time, game was number 164 on Steam Charts.
As a comparison, this's Battleborn on its first 3 days (May 3 to May 6) with a steady 10k user base.
As a comparison, this's Battleborn on its first 3 days (May 3 to May 6) with a steady 10k user base.
Amibguous Cad
Member
Such a shame. I wish it had released earlier in the year - but sandwiched between Splatoon 2 and Destiny 2 I didn't have room for any more shooters in my life!
In fairness, I don't know if the Switch has the audience either. The problem though was that out of all the things they could have said for "reasons why Lawbreakers isn't going multiplatform," saying "Not enough buttons" was not one of them since that is also taking a potshot at the Xbox One that has the same amount of buttons (if we aren't counting the "Share button"). If it was console exclusive, they might as well say "console exclusive." Still, I do wish the Lawbreakers team all the luck in making the game as successful as possible. Like what Cliffy said in another article, this is a marathon, not a sprint.
Sometimes I do wonder if those who count the "player base" does count in console players since it isn't like every single one of us has a supped up computer. Still, I probably should have guessed that would have been the case if I read the "PCGamesN" in the title. I'm sure though that PS4 owners are enjoying the game right now as we speak.
I've not played Lawbreakers, but it looks... if not old, then aged. I'm trying to think what the could have done to graphics to make it stand out - but all I'm coming up with is making it less realistic and more colourful, which then places it similarly to Overwatch.
What could they have done in presentation to make it stand out more and to give whatever meagre marketing it had more clout?
What could they have done in presentation to make it stand out more and to give whatever meagre marketing it had more clout?
Barrel Cannon
Member
^This basically sums it up. People love to hate on things way too much. Cliffy already has a positive attitude and is trying to slowly build up the game according to the Eurogamer review. I wish him luck and will be double dipping on PS4 as soon as a patch rolls out
GrandHarrier
Member
Sales by deception? The health of a MP only game should absolutely be a factor in the purchasing decision.
Going F2P may not be the solution if the subgenre of arena shooters is simply old news to people, and the lack of a flagship title for the past decade could be a contributor. Toxikk has a free version where you can unlock everything, and the paid version is only $14.99. 650K downloads on Steam, but the concurrent player counts are only double digits. This seems like a category of game that faded out of mind for most people after UT3 came and went, followed by virtually nothing. Maybe Bethesda was smart delivering Quake in a way that keeps player data from being easily observed a d scrutinized.
When it launched definitely didn't help. I only picked it up because it was $30, FPS is one of my favorite genres, and liked the fast game play I saw on streams. I didn't like it at first but been enjoying it more lately. Shame more people aren't giving it a shot.
Estocolmo
Member
This!
-MD-
Member
Is the dumbest post in the thread.
Amibguous Cad
Member
Well, evidently you're right, because it did bomb, but that's not necessarily the way it works.
A year on from Overwatch's release date, I'm definitely in for "Overwatch but with X" if X is something I like, and moreso than I would have if OW hadn't been released at all. I have to imagine a lot of OW players have fallen away from the game for one reason or another but might be interested in a fresh take on the experience.
Some of these class shooters seem to be doing pretty okay, so maybe it's more likely that "Overwatch, but Unreal Tournament" isn't appealing to people because of the UT part?
Relevant Cliffy B interview: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-08-11-the-big-cliff-bleszinski-interview
TheRedSnifit
Member
Indeed. Quake and Unreal Tournament sold, like, six copies each.
A long time ago.
UT was one of my fav games. Different gen now, I don't think arena shooters like that are big any more.
"Is there a way to fuck over consumers so companies who didn't design or market their product in a way that promotes successful sales could take advantage?"
What the actual fuck are some of these posts? Cliffy B has been incredibly successful for a can of Mountain Dew that wished to be a real boy - we don't need to hide information from consumers to try and prop up his latest release that couldn't cut it in the market.
Kidding about the Mountain Dew thing, but really, the other thing they could do differently is make a game more in line with the market or design it to be more appealing in terms of marketability. Hiding info from consumers or blaming Overwatch won't make niche games suddenly more popular.
Frozenprince
Banned
You need a relatively decent player base to have legs that can pull ypu put.
A game with under 2000 players less than a full week from launch is not that.
And no, this has nothing to do with Overwatch. Make a game people resonate with and you'll find a niche. This didn't. Sucks. That's the nature of the business.
Have you actually played the game? The gameplay is actually really amazing. I could see this being a great Esports game if the Internet didn't decide it sucked prior to actually playing it.
Personally I think they needed a "hook" for marketing. Gravity and fast movement were not enough to get people talking before release, I think. The variety of modes is also tough because it waters down what it is, took time to develop, etc.
But I think after release it might still do well -- if it's honestly good fun, people may convince friends to join after the fact.
Meccs
Member
This is the actual problem. It looks very generic and even the name doesn't sound like anything. This with the $30 hurdle and no marketing at all is what let's people stay away. This game needs a free weekend or something and people will come.
I won't lie, the sponsored streams of this game (and other games) actually did more to turn me off to it than on. I get annoyed when my streamers stop playing their usual games or games they'd naturally want to play to do sponsored stuff. I typically just turn away when that happens.
What separates this from Overwatch? To someone who only has a little experience with Overwatch, it basically just looks like less creative Overwatch.
What separates this from Overwatch? To someone who only has a little experience with Overwatch, it basically just looks like less creative Overwatch.
Mastermind Vade
Banned
King
SoulUnison
Banned
This is literally the first I've ever heard of this game, and I'm an avid gamer who spends at least 5 minutes each day here on GAF, so...
Somebody completely failed to make people aware this game was happening.
EDIT: I'm watching a couple gameplay clips and... Huh.
I mean, it certainly looks competent, but there's an oddly...generic feel to it?
Like, this looks like one of those mock-up games you'd see someone playing in the background of a TV show or on NCIS or something during one of those "this is what your grandma thinks a video game is" episodes.
Somebody completely failed to make people aware this game was happening.
EDIT: I'm watching a couple gameplay clips and... Huh.
I mean, it certainly looks competent, but there's an oddly...generic feel to it?
Like, this looks like one of those mock-up games you'd see someone playing in the background of a TV show or on NCIS or something during one of those "this is what your grandma thinks a video game is" episodes.