Lawbreakers is, by all accounts, a rather good game. So it is a bit puzzling as to why it has not done as well as you wold expect- it is a perfectly competent hero based multiplayer shooter, and it’s got a lot of depth, nuance, and texture to it, too.
However, Cliff Bleszinski, who headed development of the game, reckons he has an idea as to why this may have happened- or at least something that could well have been a contributing factor. Speaking to Eurogamer, he said that his own personality, which he describes as ‘polarizing’, may have pushed people away from trying the game.
“I’ve had a very polarizing personality through the majority of the frickin’ 25 years I’ve been doing this,” he said. “It probably comes from a lack of being popular in school or something – I don’t really know. But what I do and bring to the table brings a certain amount of weight. You also have an entire generation of 15-year-old kids who don’t know who I am, nor do they give a s**t– they’re more excited about their favourite Twitch streamer or YouTuber, which we’ve recognized in regards to appealing to that crowd, and building relationships with them, occasionally finding the ones that aren’t fans of us and [investing] a bit of money at them to see if they want to give it a go to kind of help raise awareness and get the word out. This business moves fast, and you’re only as good as your last game.”
I do think that might be a reason, actually (and this is also the reason that Gearbox’s non Borderlands games seem to suffer on the market a fair bit now). That said, Bleszinski remains optimistic. He mentioned to Eurogamer that he believes that this is a marathon, not a sprint, at that the positive early word of mouth and reception for the game may help it do well in the long run.
Hopefully, that is what happens- as mentioned, Lawbreakers is actually a pretty good game, and there is no reason to not give it a fair chance. It is available now on PC and PS4.
