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LawBreakers, the upcoming multiplayer FPS from Cliff Bleszinski’s Boss Key Productions, has abandoned its free-to-play model in favour of launching as a premium title.
The change was announced at GDC yesterday, where Boss Key confirmed that the game will initially launch exclusively on the Steam platform. It won’t, however, carry the $60 price point of a traditional boxed product.
“As the game continued to take shape, we realised free-to-play wasn’t the right fit for what we’re building,” said Bleszinski. “LawBreakers is a competitive game at heart and that means balance is a big priority to me, my team, and our community. Using a digital premium model helps ensure an even playing field by giving fans access to every available role without any barriers.”
The switch in business model is joined by a more mature look and feel to the game’s characters and environments.
“Being constantly compared to the current slew of colourful shooters on the market made us realise we needed to stand out from the crowd,” explained Bleszinski. “We decided to take a step back and explore how we could dial up the maturity in LawBreakers, going back to our original vision. The new look and feel embraces the innovative and vertical nature of our game elevated by violence, intensity and competition.”
Attendees of PAX East next month will be able to go hands on with Lawbreakers.
As for other platforms, an FAQ from Boss Key said the studio is “initially developing LawBreakers for PC, then… who knows what the future holds?” Given the popularity of shooters on consoles it would be a surprise not to see the game on PS4, Xbox One or both.
Source: Boss Key Productions
