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LawBreakers' peak concurrent Steam playerbase dropped to 431 today [Up2: Down to 302]

Ever since Quake Champions came to Steam, I haven't played LB. It's a better game, it'll have better support, and it'll be F2P in the final release.

The only way LB is going to make a comeback is it has to go F2P. There is no other way around it. I like LB, but it really just came out at a horrible time.
 
Really want to try this out but my PC has no hope of running it, no PS4 and no Xbox One port. I really love Cliff's work overall in the industry and I still play UT often.
 

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
Battlegrounds and Overwatch are killing this game ...

I suspect this is actually the biggest problem among the target audience:

quake2ilaz1.png


It's a fast paced arena shooter, there's an f2p version on the Bethesda launcher (and they've built a large community over there as well which isn't reflected in these numbers), and now it's on Steam at the same price to boot. That and Quake has a much better brand name to boot.
 
...you've never observed a spike in players from a game switching to F2P?

I'm pretty sure he's acknowledged the spike but I think his point is that the same amount of people would leave the game mirrored to it not being free 2 play.

There is always potential to turn a game around. CS:GO was in a rut for quite some time before Valve managed to turn it around. That said, I've not played this game and have no idea how it is or what (if anything) is wrong with it.

yes but Counter strike was not a new IP and not only that it took quite a while to repair.
 

Budi

Member
Why? You should just play it, i've been having fun in it every day since launch. Worth 30$ for sure.
Yup, shouldn't matter to the player that much if the game is popular or not, only is it a good game. As long as there are people to play with, as of right now there is. So make the best of it.
 
Honest question: how comparable is Lawbreakers to Quake Champions? If similar enough, QC is launching f2p but with a $30 "get all current heroes and future heroes plus some extra bonus stuff" sort of like Smite and Paladins. Depending on the f2p mechanism, wouldnt performance of QC impact Lawbreakers move to f2p or staying the course?

To be honest, unless it goes f2p or something major occurs to get by in from the mass market, I dont see what saves this game. In a week is the juggernaut Destiny 2. I know its not the same thing but is a pseudo hero shooter what with each class and its abilities. No idea how that will do on PC (seems there is a large untapped audience) and it will do extremely well on console. Then from there you start heading into the very crowded fps market this fall. I mean Lawbreakers basically has UT (free on the epic launcher), Quake Champions, Paladins, Overwatch, even Battleborne plus everything that is coming. At least as f2p you might get people interested and wanting a break from the other titles to jump in for a bit and maybe drop some cash.

Feels bad as it looks interesting and fans seem to like it but again, I am back in the "how does this compare to Quake Champions which also seems to have the same response but is f2p" and then I sit back and go "wait, Destiny 2 comes out in a week..."
 

Slayven

Member
What struck me most about LB is how soulless the characters are. I didn't learn until after launch they have names and profiles instead of just roles. They looked like they were stolen from the dumpster outside of 90s Wildstorm and Image.
 

Galactic Fork

A little fluff between the ears never did any harm...
Can someone explain the Dark Souls of fps quote? Does it share some elements with Dark Souls? Is it supposed to be "punishing" like Dark Souls? What does "the Dark Souls of fps" even mean?
 

komplanen

Member
All these years of Cliffy B going for what he believes in and it's a big flop. I hope he does something completely different instead of doubling down on this.
 

wwm0nkey

Member
I suspect this is actually the biggest problem among the target audience:

quake2ilaz1.png


It's a fast paced arena shooter, there's an f2p version on the Bethesda launcher (and they've built a large community over there as well which isn't reflected in these numbers), and now it's on Steam at the same price to boot. That and Quake has a much better brand name to boot.
Oh not bad for QC
 

Zarth

Member
Seems like everything Epic and everything that has touched Epic is doomed now. Whatever is going on those guys (still there and who have left) just cannot seem to repeat their successes.
 

Data West

coaches in the WNBA
What does this really mean for the industry, though? By most accounts the gameplay itself is rather fun.

Is "personality" and "character" that important in video games? Lawbreakers' lack of success says yes. Or is this just a case of over-saturation?



haha or is this more about gamers' distaste for the game's hype-man?

he wasn't the only one talking all that bullshit. you can find some dev posts in their steam forums prior to launch
 

Mooreberg

Member
The window for this as a "paid" game is already closed. I wonder if F2P will do more or it than it did for Battleborn and Evolve. You can get so many hours out of shooters that I'm not sure people will care if it is $30 less than PUBG or $60 less than Destiny 2.

Seems like everything Epic and everything that has touched Epic is doomed now. Whatever is going on those guys (still there and who have left) just cannot seem to repeat their successes.

Boss Key is a separate company. Beyond engine royalties, Fortnite and Paragon is how Epic will be making money for the next few years.
 

Gator86

Member
High skill ceiling and bad tutorials.

The Souls games actually have solid tutorials explaining all of the gameplay stuff for the most part. I cracked up when I saw the low quality vids in Lawbreakers during the Giantbomb quicklook. It seems like they just ran out of money and said fuck it.
 

Mossybrew

Member
What struck me most about LB is how soulless the characters are. I didn't learn until after launch they have names and profiles instead of just roles. They looked like they were stolen from the dumpster outside of 90s Wildstorm and Image.

You mean you don't want to buy loot boxes to get exciting new skins for this stable of generic techno-goons?
 

Budi

Member
The Souls games actually have solid tutorials explaining all of the gameplay stuff for the most part. I cracked up when I saw the low quality vids in Lawbreakers during the Giantbomb quicklook. It seems like they just ran out of money and said fuck it.
Yeah they actually have much better videos on their Youtube channel, I don't know why some of them aren't included in the game instead. And on PC there is actual playable tutorial, but again no idea why it's not on PS4.
 
That sucks

People may not like Cliffy, the games art, or the games "attitude" but it plays amazingly well.

I've no interest in the game, but I find it odd how many people seem to be jeering at its failure.

How long did it take for Evolve to reach this sorry state?

I know it's a totally different type of game, but even going F2P couldn't save it.

Evolve sold like 1.5 million copies total. It might have been a relative disappointment but it's a completely different situation.
 

-MD-

Member
Shame too cause the game is fun.

Overwatch has been stale for so long and I was glad something new was coming out but of course the game I wanna invest time into has less than 500 people playing it.
 

renzolama

Member
Honest question: how comparable is Lawbreakers to Quake Champions?

Quake Champions is mechanically still a traditional arena shooter with some light hero mechanics - you're running loops or guarding powerup/weapon spawns, bunny/strafe jumping, etc. Lawbreakers is more like an inversion of Overwatch with a greater emphasis on mobility - you're completing objectives on a team of heroes, but the skill ceiling for individual play is much higher and therefore much harder to balance (in terms of matchmaking, I mean, not gameplay/combat balance). They're very different games that happen to be linked by the Quake -> Unreal -> ClifB connection, in terms of actual gameplay mechanics Lawbreakers is much closer to CoD/Titanfall/Overwatch than it is to Quake.

Personally I prefer Lawbreakers as I really never cared for camping powerups even when that gameplay style was popular, but for people looking for that traditional arena experience it's definitely Quake Champions. They're both great games that, along with Titanfall 2, I'm sad to see squashed beneath PUBG / Overwatch / etc as someone who really doesn't enjoy those games very much and wants to see these other options continue to exist in the marketplace.
 

jabuseika

Member
That first point is a matter of opinion and I strongly disagree with it

Started playing shooters with the original Unreal.

There's just something about the movement and speed in Quake games, that just makes them so smooth and responsive. Yeah, Quake Champions could use some improvements, like less weapon switching lag, and smoother frame times at the high levels. Lawbreakers feels so clunky and animation prioritized, it feels like I could get the right shot if the models did jerk around too much.
 
Seems like everything Epic and everything that has touched Epic is doomed now. Whatever is going on those guys (still there and who have left) just cannot seem to repeat their successes.

Hey come on, Paragon is still alive (something like 1k-2k streamers right now compared to 98 for Lawbreakers...Jesus Persona 4 Golden has 500 streamers right now...). As for Fortnite, that is at 500 streamers as well.

QC has 287 streamers right now and that is in a paid for beta (or at least on Steam it is).
 

Cmagus

Member
You can't tell me the constant negative reporting of the game's player counts didn't doom Lawbreaker's chances.

It definitely has, in fact that article that was released awhile back comparing the numbers to Battleborn had a huge impact on the game and really did some damage. After that article came out it was everywhere and Youtube was full of videos on it as well.
 

Zarth

Member
The window for this as a "paid" game is already closed. I wonder if F2P will do more or it than it did for Battleborn and Evolve. You can get so many hours out of shooters that I'm not sure people will care if it is $30 less than PUBG or $60 less than Destiny 2.



Boss Key is a separate company. Beyond engine royalties, Fortnite and Paragon is how Epic will be making money for the next few years.

Yeah I was referring beyond that. CliffyB was former Epic and sprung up this company thats flopping.

All the attempts to revive Gears of War seem kinda eh.

Epic and former Epic are having it rough all around.

Hey come on, Paragon is still alive (something like 1k-2k streamers right now compared to 98 for Lawbreakers...Jesus Persona 4 Golden has 500 streamers right now...). As for Fortnite, that is at 500 streamers as well.

QC has 287 streamers right now and that is in a paid for beta (or at least on Steam it is).

Not sure if serious but those numbers all look terrible. Imagine the Paragon #s if it wasn't free.
 
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