It seems "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds" (PUBG) not only kills players but other games as well, as the publishers of "Lawbreakers" are now blaming the Battle Royale game the poor reception of their own.
Nexon, the publishers of "Lawbreakers," may be planning to call off their game, and they have blamed "PUBG" for the poor popularity of their first-person shooter (FPS). Nexon CFO Shiro Uemura explains that they will no longer be incurring any further losses from "Lawbreakers," which has accounted for the majority of their third-quarter spending for 2017. As such, they have now written off the game on their balance sheet.
"Our results in North America in the third quarter were below our outlook, mainly due to the sales from 'Lawbreakers' being below our expectations. 'Lawbreakers' is a unique FPS developed for core users. We had very high expectations for its launch; however, the timing of its launch turned out to be unfortunate, specifically the blockbuster PC online game 'PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds' came out right about the same time, making the market environment very tough for first-person shooters in general and for 'Lawbreakers,'" explained Uemura.
Despite not being a direct competitor to "Lawbreakers" due to having a different formula and mechanics, "PUBG" might've just overshadowed the game due to its overwhelming breakout popularity. That said, that does not explain why other shooters like "Lawbreakers" have persisted despite "PUBG" and despite being released closely.
Some users have pointed out the financial model of "Lawbreakers" as its weakest link, where it initially launched as a free-to-play game but suddenly changed to a buy-to-play model where successive players had to purchase the game to be able to play. This could have hurt the popularity of the game since there was already competition for it which was free or had the same price with better quality such as "Paladins" or "Overwatch."
Despite the announcement from the publishers, the game is not being abandoned completely, as it still has its developers. However, its future is quite bleak given the decision of Nexon, as they may decide to abandon the game in the near future.
