Cliff Bleszinski announces the shut-down of Boss Key Productions after three years of operations and two video game titles released.
Boss Key's 'Lawbreakers' Failed To Meet Expectations
Bleszinski, best known for directing the Gears of War series, left Epic Games in 2012 and formed Boss Sky Productions with Arjan Brussee in 2014. The studio released its first project, Lawbreakers, a first-person shooter game, in 2017 after three years of development.
During that time, the studio campaigned for the game with beta tests and public demonstrations. However, titles like Overwatch were released during that time as well, contributing to the lack of popularity of Boss Key's title during its release.
Boss Key had hoped for Lawbreakers to compete with Blizzard's Overwatch, which remains as one of the best titles in the genre. Due also in part to the oversaturated market, the title never gained traction despite having mostly positive reviews.
"The fact is LawBreakers failed to find enough of an audience to generate the funds necessary to keep it sustained in the manner we had originally planned for and anticipated," Boss Key Productions admitted in April this year.
"And while a pivot to free-to-play may seem like easiest change to make, a change of this magnitude takes publishing planning and resources to do it."
Battle Royale Title 'Radical Heights' Could Not Save The Studio
As a last-ditch effort, the team scrambled to get a battle royale-style game out in an attempt to capitalize on the popularity of the genre. Meanwhile, Brussee returned to Epic Games in December 2017 to work on the mobile version of Fortnite, one of the hottest battle royale titles at the moment.
Boss Key then released Radical Heights in April 2018, in a market dominated by PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds and Fortnite. The game, like the company's other title, failed to gain popularity.
The reviews were also not as good as Lawbreakers, with some commenting that the game felt unfinished. Still, Bleszinski claims that it was well-received, but it was too late to save the studio. He noted that Radical Heights' servers would continue to be up for some time, but the end date has yet to be unannounced.
As for his next venture, the developer has no concrete plans although he remains hopeful.
"Video games will forever be part of who I am and I hope to make something new again someday, however, I need to withdraw and take this time," said Bleszinski in a note on Twitter.
