Boss Key Productions "is effectively no more" according to Cliff Bleszinski, who co-founded the studio in 2014. The developer's only PlayStation title, LawBreakers, launched in August of last year, and although the team-based shooter was quite well received, it struggled to retain a sizeable player count.
In what Bleszinski describes as a "last ditch attempt", the studio released early access PC battle royale title Radical Heights, but in his own words, it was "too little too late".
"To those who have supported myself and the studio these last four years, thank you from the bottom of my heart," the statement concludes.
Naturally, we wish everyone involved all the best for the future.
[source twitter.com]
Comments 23
Every damn time I see the name of this game I get this in my head.
Sad news, but the writing was on the wall I suppose.
Cliffy B Games sucks since he left Gears of War.
Sad for most of the people who were hired there (even if they were fleeing like the building was on fire), but I've gotta say, it's satisfying to see Cliffy B fail. Maybe he'll start being more humble after this.
Maybe burning bridges with Epic was a bad idea, Cliff?
Even though the community wasn't especially enamoured with his latest games, it's still a sad thing when a talented developer/studio calls it quits. Best wishes for everyone involved, and I hope they land on their feet soon.
My condolences to everyone except Cliff, who has flip-flopped more than xbox one has in the past decade. Gears of War was your flash in the pan sir, time to retire and not draw anyone else into your next sinking ship.
Really sucks for the employees of Boss Key, but as far as it concerns Cliffy, the dude had it coming.
As others have already commented everything Cliffy gets he had coming to him. It just sucks that others got caught up in his fall. I have never seen an individual person get so arrogant over one successful exclusive game.
Just imagine Cory Barlog going onto ign every other day saying how awesome he is for making God of War and that microsoft sucks and that he is just the god of gaming and children cry on the streets wanting to play his games... This is literally what Cliffy used to do on Gametrailers (mind you gametrailers.com was not unbias like they claimed and hense their fall to just a youtube channel)
What a web of bull and bias that used to infest the internet during the 360's height.
The problem with Cliffy B is he tries to cash in on fads but.is to late. Tried to make an Overwatch clone and convince everyone that it was different. Then he was working on a Battle Royale game to.go against Fortnite. Instead of trying to emulate he should come up with something original until he learns that he will continue to fail.
How sad I enjoyed Lawbreakers it was a fun game
so what's with the bad feelings about that cliffy guy?
was he just very arrogant or is there more to his story?
@Kidfried Don't forget Gears of War!
Lawbreakers was my GOTY last year (tied with RE7), but man did it bomb HARD. I've been part of a diehard community waiting for it to go F2P (as all online shooters eventually do), but now...I guess all hope is lost!
@Kidfried Oops, I thought your were just responding to jdv95 for some reason
For the people who are saying it is sad for the employees losing their jobs, thankfully it could be worse, since many of them flocked to Epic beforehand (resulting in Cliffy badmouthing Epic for hiring them).
I kinda don't like this guy but I have to say in these kinds of situations I feel honestly sad...he probably had a passion for the studio and the game, and it's not like the game was bad...just that 100 people played it only!
But yeah I feel bad for him and the other guys in the studio! All I can hope is they find a new job soon and one with more success
Tbh I don't really feel that bad for the CEO, as Radical Heights was just an unoriginal cash grab, but I do feel bad for everyone working for this studio that lost their jobs. I do hope they all find good jobs soon.
Cliffy B is a massive tool there is really no disputing that, and the way he conducts himself just makes it all the more satisfying that he fails. I don't hate him, but just seeing someone who acts so arrogant and childish fail so spectacularly is hilarious to me. It's Poetic Justice because the only reason the Cliff Blezinski monolith fell was because he put the bricks in brick by brick. Or rather he took credit for it anyway. That, and Lawbreakers wasn't that great, and Radical Heights was abysmal.
I don't feel bad at all for the other employees; they will no doubt find something better. I'd feel bad if they still had to work at Boss Key for whatever reason. Like many have said, it was a sinking ship, and it was bound to go down.
The former employees of Boss Key don't need luck or well wishes; they have the experience to find and keep other work. I'm confident most if not all of these employees will find more worthwhile projects to work on.
I feel sorry about the other developers, but not Cliffy B.
This guy is a total douche on social media, he mocks acclaimed series like Kingdom Hearts (he did this years ago), also said that consoles would disappear soon. Looks like it's the other way around.
@Splints Exactly. Can't forget about him mocking many Japanese games like Kingdom Hearts, also when he said that consoles would not be relevant soon, playing ball with the pc mustah race. Every article he wrote on Kotaku is pathetic, well, like the site itself.
I don't think it's good to be happy when others fail, when games studio shutdown, it mean less games for us gamers. I hope this experience make cliffy b a better person and maybe wiser.
@PS_Nation I couldnt agree with you more. His attitude is trash.
is cliffy b the one who said that consoles are dead/not relevant?
Sad to hear - there was a lot right with Lawbreakers and the theory behind it - a good price point, from what I understand a good solid foundation and released relatively independently. However, the time to market was wrong, Overwatch had stolen that crown and his exposure probably did more harm then good.
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