Don’t blame it on the good times, blame it on the PUBGie.
Nexon, the publishers behind Lawbreakers, an ambitious but in the end unsuccessful shot at an online FPS, have written off the value of the game.
Nexon’s CFO Shiro Uemura has confirmed this in a Q&A with investors saying that the game’s commercial failure can be at least partially attributed to the amazing success of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.
“Our results in North America in the third quarter were below our outlook, mainly due to the sales from Lawbreakers being below our expectations. Lawbreakers is a unique FPS developed for core users. We had very high expectations for its launch; however, the timing of its launch turned out to be unfortunate, specifically the blockbuster PC online game PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds came out right about the same time, making the market environment very tough for first-person shooters in general and for Lawbreakers.”
Although the games are by no means similar – they are, of course, both FPS shooters – the magnitude of PUBG success might have stolen some overlapping customers.