LawBreakers has suffered from a rough launch, with the game reportedly managing to only achieve a peak of 3,000 concurrent players on Steam on its launch night and now dropping to around the 1,000 player mark.
This represents a 60 per cent drop from the number of players who took part in the game’s beta, and leaves it struggling to crack Steam’s top 100 most played games. It also puts it far behind Battleborn, Gearbox’s notorious flop that struggled in the mighty shadow of Overwatch, which achieved 12,000 concurrent players at launch.
The findings were posted by GITHYP, which has revealed that the average daily low for the game has been 1,083 players, while the average daily high has been 2,018 players. PS4 sales for the game are not currently available.
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These stats don’t spell good news for director Cliff Bleszinski and his team at Boss Key Productions, who had hoped that LawBreakers‘ high-speed FPS action would attract those who miss the style of action seen in his earlier shooting games such as 1999’s Unreal Tournament. The game’s Steam page even appeals to this audience, reading: “What worked in other first-person shooters will get you merc’d. Legendary game designer Cliff Bleszinski and Boss Key Productions crafted a chaotic, frenetic, multiplayer FPS for skilled gamers who tire of kiddie-bumpered, on-the-rails “combat”.”
LawBreakers‘ poor launch numbers are not reflected by its user reviews. The game currently sits at a Very Positive rating on Steam with 1,200 reviews, while the critical consensus has thus far been positive, too. Cliff Bleszinski has also taken to Twitter to address those comparing the game to Overwatch, with some suggesting that his game is derivative of Blizzard’s blockbuster hit as a result of both being class-based first-person shooters.
https://twitter.com/therealcliffyb/status/895400329851875329
It’s unclear how Bleszinski and Boss Key Productions plan to increase sales of LawBreakers, but with the game being reliant upon retaining a large audience, they will need to pull something out of the bag sooner rather than later. Hopefully they’re able to do so, though the future is looking bleak for the FPS.
