Discussing LawBreaker’s Launch and Future Plans
The highly anticipated, gravity-defying arena shooter LawBreakers launched last week. Despite a great reception from players, however, it saw a rather slow start. But that hasn’t stunted any of the creator’s enthusiasm. Cliff Bleszinski, developer and CEO of Boss Key Productions, talked about the game’s launch in a new interview with Eurogamer.
One of the first things Bleszinski mentioned was his stipulation in bringing LawBreakers to PlayStation 4. Even though the shooter was prioritized for PC, there wouldn’t be a console release without 60 frames per second.
“We’re now at the point where the game’s running at a smooth 60fps – and PC, if you’ve got a solid rig, you can get it up to 144 plus,” stated Bleszinski. “The older I’ve got the more of a framerate snob I’ve become. I can’t play a shooter at 30fps – I just can’t do it – I need 60 or higher. There’s a whole argument about 24fps is more cinematic – for your cutscenes that’s fine but for actual gameplay fuck off, right?”
Some of the frame rate hiccups visible in initial PS4 gameplay have since been fixed or drastically reduced. Players who need verification can find the test in Digital Foundry’s own PS4/PC comparison here.
As for the soft launch of LawBreakers, Bleszinski doesn’t seem too concerned. He has confidence in the product and intends to keep working so that quality improves in tandem with popularity. Right now, he’s just glad he could deliver a strong shooter at launch.
“We see this game as a marathon and not a sprint,” Bleszinski went on. “We’re having a solid opening but we’re reminding people that we shipped with nine characters, in the play test lab we’re playing with role ten, it’s fully playable. I’ve played two maps that are 99 per cent ready to go, maybe new game types that I can’t really talk about. I’ve seen skins and meshes for characters that are really cool that players won’t see for a couple of months. That’s the world we live in – it’s no longer fire and forget.
“…Â I’d rather be the underhyped game that slowly ramps up into something that people adore than something that comes out with way too much hype that there’s a backlash for, which is why I think the Steam reviews are so positive. We’re going to continue to raise awareness, continue to support the product.”
Hence, LawBreakers is available for $29.99 on PlayStation 4 and PC. Over time, we can expect more content and more gravity-defying action. Bleszinski hasn’t stated that new content will be free, but that’s certainly what it sounds like. In so doing, the team at Boss Key hopes to avoid the stigma that’s come from triple-A publishing.
“It’s one of those things – we’re not doing the traditional pop of what triple-A is. We’re feeling out this new space, much like Hellblade is, for what for lack of a better term is double-A. That flash-in-the-pan pop, to be frank, comes from those traditional publicly based publisher companies that are addicted to their earnings on Wall St, and that works for many of them – for your Activisions and EAs – but we’re trying to forge a new model here, which is the tortoise versus the hare.”
Have you played LawBreakers yet? If you haven’t, you can always check out our review of the game here. And let us know if you’re on board with Bleszinski’s plan for starting on quality and improving over time, such as hitting 60 fps at launch. Comment down below.