Lawbreakers Publisher Suffers Layoffs, Says to Not Blame the Failed Game

When Lawbreakers first game out, it was met with dismal numbers and crushed expectations. The team behind the failed title had a lot of plans to try to revive it after its missed launch, but the player base collectively thought of it as too little, too late. Now the publisher behind the game is being faced with massive layoffs but they say that the decline of Lawbreakers isn’t to blame.

Nexon America did not disclose the total amount of employees affected by this decision, though a spokesperson did reach out to Games Industry to release a statement. Citing that the layoffs were the result of restructuring to “streamline operations and reset the organisation to pursue a deeper focus on our more promising titles.” Immediately with the news, many couldn’t help but to turn their eyes to Lawbreakers, though they were vehement that Cliff Bleszinksi’s title had nothing to do with it.

According to reports:

“But the Nexon spokesperson claims the restructure is “unrelated to Lawbreakers‘ financial performance”, reiterating that its primary objective is to “sharpen Nexon Amercia’s focus and improve our overall live operations capability for long-term success.”

The spokesperson concluded: “We are a financially stable and growing company continuing to report record earnings. Changes we made are not tied to financial reasons, but to turn Nexon around in an effort to establish ourselves as a strong player in the Western market, replicating the success Nexon has had in Asia.”

For those not familiar with this company, below are the other titles attributed to Nexon America:

• Counter-Strike Nexon: Zombies
• Duel of Summoners
• Hyper Universe
• LawBreakers
• Mabinogi
• MapleStory
• Riders of Icarus
• Vindictus

Our hearts go out to those that are suffering from the recent layoffs, and we wish nothing but the best for those searching for new homes professionally.

For more about Nexon:

Innovation.

That’s what Nexon is all about. A pioneer in the world of interactive entertainment software,we introduced the world to the first graphic MMORPG, The Kingdom of the Winds, back in 1995. Since then, we’ve become the industry leader in massively multiplayer online games, continuing to redefine the genre with each of our innovative titles.

Notably, we developed the world’s first internet quiz game, QPlay, set a world record of 700,000 concurrent users in China with our smash hit Crazy Arcade BnB, and developed the most played online game in South Korea (played by over 30% of the population), KartRider, which is considered to be the national game in Korea.

We also pioneered the Item Selling (microtransaction) business model, thus giving our users complete access to all of our games for free, with the option to expand their gaming experience by purchasing game enhancements (virtual items) such as avatar customizations and pets. What we did, in essence, was revolutionize the online gaming industry by dispelling the notion that online games are only being played by a marginal group of hardcore gamers. We proved that online games are a progressive, mainstream form of entertainment to be enjoyed by everyone clear across the demographic spectrum.

We’re also out to prove that our vision of online gaming entertainment extends beyond any international boundaries. Just as we redefined the online gaming industry in Asia, we’re poised to revolutionize the online gaming scene in North America.