PAX South has been kicking along over the weekend and, as is customary for PAX, developers have been advertising their wares in interviews and the showroom floor. One of those developers was Cliff Bleszinski, who’s been working with his team on the upcoming 5v5 shooter Lawbreakers.
The 5v5 shooter market is becoming surprisingly crowded, with Bethesda, Blizzard and Boss Key Productions all pitching into the same space. Bleszinski was asked about that directly in a new interview, and his reply was intriguing.
The interview with PC Gamer, which began with a fist bump because that’s Bleszinski’s method of avoiding con-flu, pivoted halfway through into the surprising re-emergence of competitive shooters. “Turns out I’m not the only arsehole who had the idea a few years ago who thought, ‘Huh, I bet I could put together a team of 50-ish, 60, 70 tops people and make like a cool 5v5 multiplayer only game’.”
“And now you have all these games like Overwatch and Battleborn and what not, and when I look at these games, and I said this in my keynote man, Randy’s a good friend of mine, I have friends at Blizzard that work on Overwatch. I’m gonna play the crap out of both of those games, but the art style is just not for me.”
“A lot of the characters, there’s this wacky like, let’s make a catfish with a top hat-type character design that’s popped up lately. I want to be O-Ren Ishii from Kill Bill, I want to be a DEA agent, I want to be an ex-con, I want to be these archetypes that I personally find interesting from film, entertainment and graphic novels that I’ve enjoyed.”
When asked if that was one of the main points of difference, the veteran developer pointed out that along with the advanced movement mechanics, the art and universe would appeal those who wanted a grittier world. “In our universe I’m hoping you get a young kid who’s like 11 and he loves playing Overwatch and that’s cool and then you get the older brother who’s like 14 who’s like, ‘You should see this one. There’s blood in it. And people explode. And they curse.’
“I want to be the rated-R version for all these PG shooters,” he finished. The interviewer didn’t press Bleszinski on the fact that neither player in his pitch would be able to legally play Lawbreakers in such a scenario, although given the average age of gamers these days (for Australia in 2014, it was 32 according to the Bond University/Digital Australia report) that’s not really an issue.
[PC Gamer]
Comments
12 responses to “Lawbreakers Wants To Be The Adult Take On 5v5 Shooters”
Because Cliff knows exactly who the target audience is 😛 look at those designs, who do you think they’re REALLY targeting there?
I don’t know but I like the fact that the lady is the best dressed of the group.
Oh definitely. Cliff doesn’t generally do women in Bikinis, thongs and fantasy armour. Check his female GOW designs. He goes the big guns, violence/action power fantasy for men AND women. He likes to instill the idea in players that they’re powerful etc.
Not saying it *works* all the time, but that seems to be what he goes for time after time…
I hope it’s a little more compelling to play than “It’s like all those other games, but with blood”.
Unfortunately judging from the spiel… it’s pretty much that.
Kind of try-hard
“neither player in his pitch would be able to legally play Lawbreakers”
Legally buy seems to be the issue, which usually is a non issue.
The PG and the R also have different guidlines in the US and are also not the same as the ESRB ratings which describe game content.
For film, R requires adult supervision for those under 17. NC-17 is the tier that limits attendance to those over 17.
‘… the art style is just not for me.’
So brown, grey and muzzle flash then. Gotcha.
Rainbow 6 Siege is my adult 5v5 shooter atm.
Team Buddies needs a remake/sequel, instant eSport right there (although a less silly name will be needed for it to succeed)
“In our universe I’m hoping you get a young kid who’s like 11 and he loves playing Overwatch and that’s cool and then you get the older brother who’s like 14 who’s like, ‘You should see this one. There’s blood in it. And people explode. And they curse.’
That’s pretty much as juvenile as it gets and why FPS get such bad publicity. The hypothetical situation of a 14 year old getting his 11 year old brother to play his game because it has blood, people exploding and cursing, is your marketing pitch? Lol. If that’s what it is means to play an mature game I’ll stick to the kiddie stuff thank you very much.
I saw the title and thought.. “oh you mean ANOTHER FPS with BLOOOOD! GOOOOORE! AND OH SO EDGY CHARACTERS!”
and then thought… hey maybe just this once they might actually “mean” the adult part instead of the standard “your so edgy coz your playing games only 16 yr olds are allowed to!” spiel. Nope got exactly what I thought it was gonna be…
… oh well I’ll just enjoy my kiddy Splatoon in the meantime then. All this “blood and stuff” is too edgy for old me =P