Boss Key Productions, the company helmed by the legendary Cliff Bleszinski, who started putting up scores on Super Mario Bros for Nintendo Power recognition and then changed the Xbox forever with Gears of War, has officially shut their doors. This comes after the absolute failure with LawBreakers and a desperate attempt to stay afloat with Radical Heights, a battle royale game.
Here is a statement Bleszinski put out over Twitter: “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 videogame 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. Videogames 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 servers for Radical Heights will remain up for the near future.”
The fate of a game that was recently featured in a few community events on Twitch is unsure. Servers will remain up, but there hasn’t been much word yet on if the game will be shut down altogether. Of course, Radical Heights is an early access title, so pulling the plug now would be better than later on.
This makes three major multiplayer games that have been shut down recently (Paragon, LawBreakers, possibly Radical Heights), leaving their communities behind. Even though those communities were small, they were players that put in time and money into those games.
With Radical Heights, if they don’t communicate exactly what is in store for that game, then players will start to leave anyways.
As someone who is a big advocate of video game preservation, this is terrible news. Thankfully LawBreakers was given physical form by Limited Run Games, but unless there is a bot option or a way to connect to other players easily, then we have a game that will fade in time. It’s sad, but this is why having things that allow players to at least experience a form of the multiplayer through those features should be considered by developers.
Either way, it will likely be some time before Bleszinski steps up to the plate again. Maybe he should consider making something in the single-player space. If God of War is any recent indication, players are still hungry for games with a set narrative.
For those playing Radical Heights, keep an eye on official sources.
