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Lawbreakers Developer Boss Key Productions Closes Down
Just weeks after putting their newest game, Radical Heights, into Early Access, Boss Key Productions has closed down.
The news came from the studio head and veteran Epic Games developer Cliff Bleszinski who left Epic in 2012 to found his own studio. Bleszinski posted a statement on Twitter that started with the words "As of today, Boss Key Productions is effectively no more."
A statement: pic.twitter.com/LwJD54bCwL
— Cliff Bleszinski (@therealcliffyb) May 14, 2018
He goes on to mention that he will be taking time off to focus and reflect and spend time focusing on his family.
Boss Key Productions was first talked about in 2014, when Bleszinski went to Twitter and announced that he's coming back to the world of video games after his retirement from Epic. A week later, Bleszinski and publisher Nexon revealed an arena shooter codenamed Blue Streak which would be developed by his new studio, Boss Key, that he has co-founded with longtime colleague Arjan Brussee. Lawbreakers was released to a muted response in August 2017 and frequently showed a rapidly declining player count on Steam.
Last month, Boss Key announced that Lawbreakers would be ceasing further work as the studio moved to a new project. The next week, the studio revealed the battle royale title Radical Heights, which would enter an immediate and decidedly appropriate Early Access category on Steam. Radical Heights, as well, faced steep declination in player numbers, leading to the announcement today.
Bleszinski stated that servers for Radical Heights would remain open for at least the near future.
Our Take
This is sad, though not terribly surprising. The market is extremely crowded and Boss Key often found itself, whether purposely or not, chasing trends rather than creating new ones. Perhaps that's too much to ask of any studio, but those expectations lead to people being disappointed with the final product. We wish everyone involved the best and hope they can land on their feet soon.
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