…and thanks for LawBreakers.

It’s always a shame when you hear that a studio has shut down, even more so when it is a studio that promised so much. Boss Key Productions, founded by Cliff Bleszinski, just couldn’t keep up with games such as PUBG, Overwatch and Fortnite, which captured gamer’s online attention far more than many other shooters.

As of today, Boss Key Productions is effectively no more.

Four years ago I set out to make a world class video game studio and I hired some of the best talent in the video game industry. They worked tirelessly to produce quality products and, while we had our ups and downs, I’d like to think we had fun doing it. LawBreakers was a great game that unfortunately failed to gain traction, and, in a last ditch attempt we scrambled to do our take on the huge battle royale genre with Radical Heights, which was well received, however, it was too little too late.

As for myself, I’m going to take some time off and reflect. I need to focus on myself and family as well as my Aussie, Teddy, who is slowly fading from us. Video games will forever be a part of who I am and I hope to make something new again someday, however, I need to withdraw and take this time.

To those of you who have supported myself and the studio these last four years, THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart and everyone who came to work for me.

Please note that the servers for Radical Heights will remain up for the near future.

Thanks again, Cliff

It’s such a shame we have to say goodbye for now, particularly as I for one thoroughly enjoyed LawBreakers!

Boss Key Productions have lifted the lid on what they have planned for LawBreakers’ free content for 2017. An image was teased last week that hinted at new maps and a role…

Releasing later this month, Namsan is the first new map to be bolted on to the base game. Following Nasam is a map that has been solely crafted for Blitzball – Gateway.

There’s also a third map in the pipeline too – a reimagining of one of the earliest maps that was designed. Set in the Sequoia National Forest, Valhalla will be the first asymmetrical map to feature in LawBreakers, it also has some devious environmental hazards and unique spawn locations.

Team deathmatch is coming in the way of skirmishes – a space where the team will trial new modes. Timed exclusive skins will feature as part of the new Blitzball map but the biggest addition to the game is the introduction of ranked matches, dubbed Boss Leagues. Details are slim on the ground, but I’d imagine some kind of reward for the top players.

The team continue to make tweaks to the game based on feedback and player data that they are inevitably collecting. New players now have a host of tutorial videos to help with learning new classes and a sandbox mode to try them out, but Boss Key are also exploring other options for helping break new players in.

Finally, towards the end end of the year a new character will enter the fray – or is that characters? Each role has two variants and while there is quite clearly one silhouette, there must be one for each team.

Ahead of a full roadmap reveal next week, the sneaky guys and gals at Boss Key Productions have teased the first content heading to LawBreakers with a nifty graphic.

From the looks of the image above, there will be two new maps heading to LawBreakers from September – Namsan and Gateway – a new Skirmish mode, a ranked Boss league and a new character – bonus points if you can work out what he/she is from the silhouette.

All future content for LawBreakers is free – maps, modes, roles and loot updates.

The weekend is almost upon us and what better way to while away the hours than by playing your favourite game – but what to play? Call of Duty WWII’s private beta kicks off, but LawBreakers has a bonus 2XP weekend – it’s going to be tough to decide.

To sweeten the deal, Boss Key Productions are holding a special Stash Drop contest – show off your favourite stash drop with the tag #LBStashDrops and you’ll be entered into a contest to win a sweet ass Deadzo hat – a real hat I should add – not a digital accessory.

The 2XP weekend kicks off today at 12:00 PDT/15:00 EDT/21:00 CEST and runs until August 28 12:00 PDT/15:00 EDT/21:00 CEST.

Patch 1.2 for Lawbreakers is due to go live today at 15:00 GMT, that’s 07:00 PDT/10:00 EDT/16:00 CEST.

The update brings in ‘quality of life fixes along with a few balance adjustments for roles and modes’.

“Greetings LawBreakers, welcome to Patch 1.2! In this patch we’re focusing on some minor gameplay tweaks and visual effects improvements while we prepare some more in depth changes for the future. For Harrier and Battle Medic we’ve improved the team colors on their weapon effects so that they’ll be more readable and consistent with the rest of the game. On the balance front, we’ve made a few adjustments to Assassin and gave a small buff to Juggernaut. Game modes are also seeing a few changes… Blitzball has a shorter game clock and a faster shield drop time to help end matches that are getting too drawn out. Occupy has a few more seconds in between zone spawns to help teams better prepare for the next fight.”

I’m pretty happy to see that LawBreakers is getting updates to the different game modes, often updates are reserved for character and weapon balances, so I’m happy to see Boss Key Productions addressing feedback from the fans. I’m still hoping for some more options other than quick match to be introduced and some form of tutorial mode so I can learn the intricacies of the other characters without being punished by skilled players.

You can check out the full patch notes of patch 1.2 over on the game’s official website, or read what we thought of LawBreakers in our first ever PS4 review on TiX.