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[NeoRaider]

There's been a lot of hype leading up to the release of Cliff Bleszinksi's new class-based shooter, LawBreakers. And with all the positive media coverage regarding the outspoken Gears of War creator's latest project, you would think the game is on track to become another successful competitive shooter... however, that might not be case after looking at the early player counts during the game's beta on Steam.

LawBreakers' closed beta began on June 28 with the open beta starting two days later. Over the course of its eight days on Steam, the beta brought in a peak of 7.5k players in a single hour with the daily averages reaching as high as 3.5k players per hour over the weekend. Those lower-than-expected numbers were only enough to rank LawBreakers as high as No. 73 on Steam's list of most played games last week.

Out of all the new games released on Steam in 2016, Paladins retained the highest players per hour average. The free-to-play hero shooter's beta debuted with a peak 38k players during its first weekend last September and still ranks in Steam's top 20 most played games averaging 25k concurrent players every day.

With the beta having 80% less players than Paladins' first week in early access, the numbers for LawBreakers actually align more with one of last year's biggest flops, Battleborn. Gearbox's failed attempt to go head-to-head with Overwatch debuted with an average of 4.5k players per hour last May and is now dangerously close to dropping below 100 players per hour.

More here: http://www.githyp.com/lawbreakers-could-flop-based-on-player-counts-from-the-steam-beta/


I know that price for LawBreakers is pretty fair, but i am afraid that not being f2p will kill this game.

 

[Mesoian]

The fact that the law breakers servers literally never worked for me sort of put a bullet in my pre release interest for the game.

 

[tearsintherain]

It is weird how some multiplayer games never really just pierce the bubble of interest for so many players. I know so many friends who are totally into PUBG now, half my friend list is playing it in the evenings. It just built up organically, with every person loving it and convincing everyone else to play and of course twitch played a huge part I'm sure, its always in the top 3 when I browse twitch.

Meanwhile stuff like Drawn to Death, Lawbreakers, and other games just never seem to get anyone to really care that much.

 

[Albino_Yeti]

Did it get marketed at all? I only remember hearing about this game from some random YouTuber playing it and its segment at E3 this year. Maybe I've just missed the marketing campaign, but it didn't seem like it was that extensive.

 

[hydruxo]

That's too bad because the game really is a lot of fun. Played the closed beta on PS4 and it surprised me. Also didn't have any problems getting into matches.

 

[Kade]

I know that price for LawBreakers is pretty fair, but i am afraid that not being f2p will kill this game.

Being a subpar multiplayer FPS will kill this game.

 

[Lijik]

I didnt find out the beta was going on till a day before it ended and was busy so i couldnt play much. I really liked what I played though so its a bummer to see not a lot of people played it

 

[Stop It]

Did it get marketed at all? I only remember hearing about this game from some random YouTuber playing it and its segment at E3 this year. Maybe I've just missed the marketing campaign, but it didn't seem like it was that extensive.

It was on my YouTube advertising rotation for weeks before the beta do there was an online push.

It just looks incredibly uninspired, frankly. It'll bomb really hard I'm afraid as there seems to be little traction after the beta.

 

[OneUh8]

I liked the beta alot. Enough so that I pre ordered the game.

 

[aeolist]

not saying that it's a primary cause but for me the fact that it's made by cliff b put me off pretty hard when i might otherwise be interested

also hearing about the incredibly lame character barks from someone in the beta

 

[Q8D3vil]

Game need a much better ui and visual indications.
We got spoiled by Blizzard.

 

[Jafku]

Because it's a mediocre FPS. It's fun, but utterly uninspiring

 

[BigEmil]

It seems worser than Overwatch
It seems worser than Titanfall 2

I don't know who this is for

 

[Yukinari]

Is cliffy B gonna get mad on twitter again and blame various forums for its downfall.

 

[YuriLowell]

This will be free to play within 3 months.

Is cliffy B gonna get mad on twitter again and blame various forums for its downfall.

I can't wait for us to get blamed again.

 

[Quonny]

First it was everyone chasing WoW in the MMO rush.

Then it was everyone chasing League in the MOBA rush.

Now it's everyone chasing Overwatch in the arena shooter rush.

 

[Interficium]

It is weird how some multiplayer games never really just pierce the bubble of interest for so many players. I know so many friends who are totally into PUBG now, half my friend list is playing it in the evenings. It just built up organically, with every person loving it and convincing everyone else to play and of course twitch played a huge part I'm sure, its always in the top 3 when I browse twitch.

Meanwhile stuff like Drawn to Death, Lawbreakers, and other games just never seem to get anyone to really care that much.

Chasing genre trends almost never works in multiplayer game development, either the genre trend itself fizzles out (as was the case with the brief arena-shooter revival from 2013-2014) or everyone trying to get gold-of-their-own gets obliterated by the biggest game in the genre (ie: dozens of MOBAs vs League & DOTA circa 2014-15, many hero shooters vs Overwatch circa 2016-2017).

Lawbreakers has chased TWO genre trends already, arena shooters (when they first announced) and hero shooters (after arena shooters fizzled and overwatch became a huge success). I don't think it's going to work out for them.

 

[Shinjica]

They show a video telling me te game was fast. Tried It and was everything except fast

 

[DarkLordMalik]

It is already done? I had no idea TBH.

 

[GiantBombGamer]

Its just not that good. You dont get word of mouth to spread with a mediocore beta, you just get uninstalls.

 

[Lord of Castamere]

It is weird how some multiplayer games never really just pierce the bubble of interest for so many players. I know so many friends who are totally into PUBG now, half my friend list is playing it in the evenings. It just built up organically, with every person loving it and convincing everyone else to play and of course twitch played a huge part I'm sure, its always in the top 3 when I browse twitch.

Meanwhile stuff like Drawn to Death, Lawbreakers, and other games just never seem to get anyone to really care that much.

It's just them going after the market. There was a void for arena hero shooters, but too many devs saw it and it rapidly switched to oversaturated. It happens. That's why you need to attempt something that's timeless.

 

[zashga]

There’s been a lot of hype leading up to the release of Cliff Bleszinksi’s new class-based shooter, LawBreakers.

Really? Around here it doesn't seem to be getting a lot of attention. And I don't think I even heard it get mentioned during E3 week.

 

[xDUMPWEEDx]

Lawbreakers has chased TWO genre trends already, arena shooters and hero shooters.

You have Quake Champions already.
You have Overwatch already.

If Lawbreakers was just a single player campaign (i.e. not needing a multiplayer community to sustain it) then I could see this game being for everyone. But, as it stands, who exactly is this game made for? To me it just seems to be standing on the same pillar as Battleborn.

 

[ElBoxyBrown]

How's Quake Champions doing? I think the biggest problem is that arena shooters are already way too hardcore to capture a casual audience.

 

[Sou Da]

No joke, the Battle Medic's shreiks turned me off from the beta. She's just SCREAMING her lines.

 

[Exalted Kezia]

Really enjoyed the quake champions beta and played it for hours. This I uninstalled after a couple matches. Something about the classes and gunplay really turned me off.

 

[Jake2by4]

There was a closed beta on PS4. News to me.

 

[antitrop]

I've enjoyed Paladins more than LawBreakers, but I'm still sticking with Overwatch over either of those.

 

[The Dutch Slayer]

There was a closed beta on PS4. News to me.

It was an open beta weekend before 4th of July.

 

[Shredderi]

I played it for 2 days. Thing is, it's mechanically decent fun but the game as a whole is utterly forgettable and uninspired. I had a hard time telling characters apart from each other in the middle of battles, visually speaking. Just no charm at all. It's not offensive in any way, but there is just no charm.

 

[Northeastmonk]

I wanted to support Lawbreakers and so forth, but I felt like I shot myself in the foot by going onto social media and being myself.

I thought Project Bluestreak sounded awesome then blah blah blah.

Who knows? It might do well.

I think it's interesting that all these stories of "cross-play" came out right after Cliffy B said it was stupid. People were defending Cross Play after that.

the guys rich from what he does, it's not like he's gonna give up, plus the game isn't even out yet. Who cares about a beta?

I use to care a lot about betas, but I don't care if I play in one or not. I think there was a lot of jet lag from last gen or I could be wrong.

No one gives two flying ducks if I buy LB or not. I've never really felt that negative or useless before.

 

[McNum]

Wasn't LawBreakers the one advertised as "Overwatch, but without the fun parts"? That seems like a bad argument for a game.

 

[Craazyville]

Cliffy B just strikes me as bro-abrasive. So somehow his games just generally ring abrasive in my ears and I tend to stay away from them. Its strange too because I think he is the only dev I can say that about.

 

[Jake2by4]

It was an open beta weekend before 4th of July.

Damn don't know how I missed it. I always check the free section of the store.

 

[Black_Stride]

Sweet Jesus.

 

[Rumblebones]

I didn't even know LawBreakers was in open beta or I would have played it.

 

[Angel_DvA]

Mediocre FPS with many server issues, the UI is completely crap, not for me.

 

[Zemm]

The huge amount of choice for competitive shooters on pc just makes it so hard to make a dent. We're drowning in them and there's only so much time in a day to play. I'm sure I'd like Lawbreakers if I played it but when do I get the chance if I'm playing diablo, Gwent and another shooter at the same time?

If you aren't bringing something new (like dayz did back in the days or what pubg is doing now) or you aren't bankrolled by a marketing department similar to blizzard, EA etc then you're going to struggle.

 

[swarley64]

I had a lot more fun watching it than playing it... People who are good at this game are in the air 90% of the time and its fascinating to watch but playing as a newbie the game just seemed clunky and confusing.

 

[Data West]

maybe they should have charged 60 dollars for their multiplayer only bullshit

 

[Chronospherics]

I think the game looks like a lot of fun but I didn't know it was in open beta. I'm really looking forward to picking it up on PS4.

The thing i dislike about Overwatch is that I feel it's far too team orientated, I can't carry as easily. I feel as though certain matches and even individual encounters are decided by team composition, being the right character in the right place, etc. Some of those decisions are under my control, but others are not.

Lawbreakers, and other games produced by Cliffy B are more orientated towards individual skill. A skillful player can make miracles happen, and it won't look the same every time they do (like it does when you do something like use reapers ult on Overwatch).

Despite that, I feel as though the marketing for the game has been appalling. Far worse than Overwatch, and even much worse than Battleborn. They've done very little to promote this game, especially to the console audience.

 

[Darryl M R]

I was interested in this game a lot and I did not know about any open beta. I was able to play closed beta due to a friend.

 

[Bookoo]

The game looked ok, but wasn't the open beta July 4th weekend? Probably not the best time for it.

 

[hydruxo]

Mediocre FPS with many server issues, the UI is completely crap, not for me.

Maybe it had server issues on PC during open beta but on PS4 it was perfectly fine for the 3 or 4 hours I played

 

[The_Dama]

Hopefully they see this and make proper adjustments. Delay if if needed.

 

[Mooreberg]

Played the beta for Lawbreakers and did not care for it. Shooters are such a crowded market on Steam, and some of the best ones are free or close to it. I am actually more interested in Ballistic Overkill right now after seeing some YouTube channels that cover it a lot.

Paladins was very well timed. People who play Overwatch to unlock stuff eventually hit a point where hitting new levels slows down outside of double XP events. Paladins has the per character progression to get new load out cards in between the leveling chest keys. They pretty much ate Gearbox's lunch as far as being an alternative game. Can't say anything about competitive since I have not played it enough to rank up twelve characters, but I can see why it has caught on with other people.

 

[Blak_Status]

I didn't like it. Seemed like too much was going on. Just didn't feel right.

 

[ClosingADoor]

Game was announced way too soon. Then there was a lot of confusion about the release. It was supposed to come fall 2016 right? Came and went. Then a beta now, but no real messaging around it. Attention just isn't there and it doesn't seem like they have the resources to do real marketing.

Also, it looks like a pretty generic futuristic shooter, and it seems people are a bit tired of that.

 

[Slayven]

I only played an hour before deleting it. It has some fun ideas but they didn't come together for me. I glad I did play the beta, almost brought it day 1.

 

[Northeastmonk]

I think the game looks like a lot of fun but I didn't know it was in open beta. I'm really looking forward to picking it up on PS4.

The thing i dislike about Overwatch is that I feel it's far too team orientated, I can't carry as easily. I feel as though certain matches and even individual encounters are decided by team composition, being the right character in the right place, etc. Some of those decisions are under my control, but others are not.

Lawbreakers, and other games produced by Cliffy B are more orientated towards individual skill. A skillful player can make miracles happen, and it won't look the same every time they do (like it does when you do something like use reapers ult on Overwatch).

Despite that, I feel as though the marketing for the game has been appalling. Far worse than Overwatch, and even much worse than Battleborn. They've done very little to promote this game, especially to the console audience.

To my knowledge I've seen advertising in a Gaming PC magazine, the VGA's, and most recently I've seen NVIDIA's experience have a LB ad while I updated my video card driver.

I wondered about that too. I think the industry has periods of time where they suck at advertising. I think GameStop's advertising is horrendous. I wouldn't even know where you'd begin advertising this? I'd hit up television or something. I feel like, especially in North America, that we enjoy marketing for a while and then it goes to complete garbage. That is until some talented individual begins working on getting our attention.

I use to watch LB's live stream and now it feels like those days are long gone.