Cliff Blezinski is leaving the gaming industry for the second time after Boss Key productions, his troubled development studio that was behind such titles as Lawbreakers and the recently unveiled, Radical Heights, has been shut down. He released a statement saying that he was thankful for the last four years working on those two games, but that ultimately the company had failed to make enough money to continue operations and would be shutting down immediately.
A statement: pic.twitter.com/LwJD54bCwL
— Cliff Bleszinski (@therealcliffyb) May 14, 2018
"As of today, Boss Key Productions is effectively no more," the statement posted on Twitter reads. "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."
Although well received by some, both games that Boss Key put out didn't find much of an audience. Lawbreakers was interesting and harkened back to the classic days of competitive shooters, but was too generic compared to hero-based shooters like Overwatch. Radical Heights joined in the battle royale rush perhaps too late in the day, with not enough to differentiate itself to find an audience. Boss Key didn't have enough time either, needing money quick and fast and it just didn't come in.
"As for myself, I'm going to take some time off and reflect," Blezinski continued. "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 for [sic] years, Thank You from the bottom of my heart an everyone who came to work for me. Please note that servers for Radical heights will remain up for the near future."
In the wake of the shut down, Blizzard has made an attempt to slurp up the homeless developers that Boss Key has left in its wake.
Very sorry to hear, Cliff, truly. To those affected at #BossKey, check out our current openings (200+) across all teams/disciplines at https://t.co/0QC3fhvTs7 and connect with our recruiting team. Hang in there folks, we're thinking of you! #gamedev #gameart #gamedevjobs #hiring https://t.co/WpRgtsHGP6
— Blizzard Careers (@BlizzardCareers) May 14, 2018