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Why Boss Key Productions Shut Down in May 2018

Boss Key Productions closed in May 2018 after LawBreakers struggled to find an audience and Radical Heights arrived too late, according to founder Cliff Bleszinski.
WorldMay 2018 Length2 min Posted Quest giverVGSources Team
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Boss Key Productions closed on May 14, 2018, founder Cliff Bleszinski announced. The studio had been founded in April 2014, and its final stretch was marked by the shutdown of LawBreakers and the Early Access release of Radical Heights. Bleszinski said the former failed to gain traction and the latter arrived too late to save the company; contemporaneous reports do not provide an audited account of the studio’s finances.

Why did Boss Key Productions shut down?

Bleszinski announced the closure in a statement shared on Twitter. He described LawBreakers as a strong game that did not find a large enough audience, then said the studio rushed to make Radical Heights as a last-ditch attempt to enter the battle-royale genre. In his assessment, the new game was well received but came too late to save Boss Key. Game Developer reported his explanation on May 14, 2018.

“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.”

That is Bleszinski’s public explanation, not an independently audited finding about the company’s finances. The contemporaneous coverage does not establish precise revenue, losses, or a complete financial cause for the shutdown.

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How the studio reached its final months

Boss Key was founded in April 2014. Its best-known releases were the competitive shooter LawBreakers and the battle-royale game Radical Heights. GamesBeat’s report says the studio spent three years developing LawBreakers.

Date What happened
April 2014 Boss Key Productions was founded by Cliff Bleszinski.
August 2017 LawBreakers launched. GameSpot lists August 8, 2017, as its first-release date and identifies PC and PlayStation 4 as platforms.
April 2018 LawBreakers was sunset after failing to attract enough attention to support continued development. Boss Key also released Radical Heights in Early Access.
May 14, 2018 Bleszinski announced Boss Key’s closure.

Although the studio’s closure came roughly four years after its April 2014 founding, reports described the event as happening “after three years” in connection with the studio’s work on LawBreakers. The founding and closure dates are the clearest calendar markers.

What happened to the two games?

LawBreakers

LawBreakers was Boss Key’s competitive shooter and its earlier major release. After launching in August 2017, it was sunset in April 2018. Game Developer reported that it had not attracted enough attention to justify continued development. GameSpot’s release coverage gives the first-release date and platforms.

Radical Heights

Radical Heights was the studio’s battle-royale pivot, released in Early Access in April 2018. Bleszinski characterized its reception positively, but said it came too late to rescue Boss Key. That assessment should not be read as a quantified sales or player-count result.

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Was Radical Heights still playable after Boss Key closed?

At the time of the May 2018 closure announcement, Bleszinski said the game’s servers would remain online for the “near future.” GameSpot noted that he did not give a specific shutdown date. That statement records the plan announced in 2018; it does not establish whether the game is available now.

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