What happens when gaming auteurs try to make it on their own? As Cliffy B prepares, a new article takes a look.
Cliff Bleszinksi, aka Cliffy B, opened Boss Key Productions in April 2014 and released the first-person shooter LawBreakers in 2017 for the PlayStation 4 and PC. The studio would close in May 2018 and the servers for the game would shut down in September 2018.
Bleszinksi shown interest in resurrecting LawBreakers. Publisher Nexon also owns the rights to the IP and Bleszinksi is open to talking with Nexon CEO Owen Mahoney.
Lawbreakers was never successful, and therefore not worth reviving. It was hero-shooter [incorrectly labeled as an arena] that failed cash in off the popularity of Overwatch.
LMAO I guess he really thought it was going to be competition.
This wasn't the only game that failed and claiming to be something entirely different.
Battleborn anyone?.
Battleborn flopped but had more going for it than Lawbreakers. Oh how i had wanted to like BB. It had solid art and characters and a campaign but the gameplay nor story were there.
I'm still amazed this guy opened a new studio, and then shut it down after their first game flopped. Your excuses didn't matter cause all that people got was their money taken, and a product they could no longer play.
The high-profile impending closure of Telltale Games has sparked a conversation about development practices within the video games industry, and their impact on employees. However, Telltale wasn’t the first or the only casualty in the past twelve months.
It’s no secret that the industry suffers from a lack of job security. Often, companies will “restructure” and lay off a significant proportion of their staff after projects are completed. In other words, a high number of layoffs are almost regular business. What’s worse is that it isn’t unheard of for developers to be in the dark about their employment status (Telltale showed everyone the door after handing them their final payment). Decisions made at the top affect those at the bottom of the chain the most.
A guild would be a great start. The problem is that game companies feed off of dreams, so a lot of devs will say yes to just about anything to get in the door. With a guild and or union they would at least have some protection.
Companies fail in capitalism, that’s just a fact. Unionizing to keep failing companies afloat through subsidies and taxes is a joke. I’m sorry the developers got laid off but that’s the business. Telltale should have never had 300 employees or whatever it was to begin with, they expanded to fast without innovation. Thats why they are broke plain and simple. And you want unions so they have to keep 300 employees or pay them anyways for firing them lol. Can you understand how the loss of merit and strategy would affect the quality of games? That would ripple through the industry like a battering ram, many more companies would fail.
That’s the totalitarian egalitarian mindset, Johnny wants his severance entitlement. From an outside perspective, I think people should be making their own teams in college. The tools are getting much more productive as the business gets older. Even I can play around with the basics of a game engine and I don’t know shit. Use your school loans and collaborations to make your game or at least a solid prototype to pitch which would cut costs.
Making games shouldn’t be about your corporate cubicle rights, that’s not why I would get into it anyway. I’m just a gambler and capitalist, if I was a developer I would bet everything on a good payoff. That’s why I support AA indie like the biomutant devs. 20 skilled veterans going back to basics with some new technology. Small teams can make it happen now and it will only get easier.
Pretty sure that's the way this industry has always been. They hire for projects and when they're finished they lay off all non essentials.
This is more about companies going out of business than just laying off a certain amount of people
This weeks stories: Project Cars comes to iOS and Android, Rage 2 becomes 2018’s worst kept secret, Cliffy B shuts down Boss Key Productions, Metro Exodus gets delayed, Sony files a patent for digital selling and borrowing of games, Plus the games we’ve all been playing!
