Cliff Bleszinski Says He Made LawBreakers Too "Woke"

The designer says he wishes he just let the game speak for itself instead of pushing his own politics onto it.

[Tetsujin]

He made a generic game when the market was already over saturated with the same type of game already. If you're going to make a "me too" type of game, at least bring something different to the table where the game is its own identity.

[SLiSH83]

If he brought something “new” it wouldn’t be a “me too” game 🙄

[Baza]

Cliffy the sellout

[CrimsonPheonix]

He understands that
The man is on twitter trying to explain to people that these headlines are not what he said but the clickbait wildfire has already spread too far.

[TranceHop]

We desperately need Cliffy B to return to the Gears franchise. Gears 3 was a masterpiece and was the last true Gears game. I currently still play Gears 3 Multiplayer on my Xbox One X.

[MadLad]

I disagree that 3 was the last great entry in the series, but I do agree his input would be far from a bad thing.

All that said, senior talent seem to slowly be exiting the company since their tencent deal, which I feel is telling on what may be going in behind closed doors. Might not be the best time to jump on board as a creative role.

[Zerobalance]

No we do not need CB back at Xbox. Gears needs to go away for a long time. MS Have invent new games.

[Jagosix]

Why does Gears need to go away? It's a great game and franchise. New games are coming. Didn't you know? If you don't like it, THEN DON'T PLAY IT. Simple. Now enjoy your games that you do like and comment on them.

[Darksonic22]

I think the game was okay it just came at a very wrong time also Cliff just became a bit too egotistical, it felt like the company was always chasing a trend like Overwatch and then the Battle Royale game. They needed to create something original. I'm a bit gutted I paid full price for Lawbreakers but I had fun with it.

[Blank]

Wow signs of maturity from Cliffy B. So props to that and may he be an example of the “go woke, get broke” mantra. Artistic vision should not be compromised for a political agenda or pandering.

[FunAndGun]

Except when It panders to your view point.

[AnubisG]

Blank is 100% correct. No exceptions.

[Blank]

Luckily I let the artist display their viewpoints and If I don’t like it then I won’t support it. I had many certain entertainment IP pivot away from what made me love them. What do I do? I just move on, watch or play the old stuff while the new stuff is for the new audience they are aiming at.

[Kabaneri]

Name one game from the past 5 years that panders to right wing viewpoints.....

[Nitrox]

@Kabaneri
How about anything from the Call of Duty or Battlefield series? Lots of guns and American supremacy.

[2pacalypsenow]

@Nitrox

What? lol You think COD and BF are right wing games?

I mean America has the best military in the world, so its a fact.

And having guns is not a right wing viewpoint, its part of being an American.

[Kabaneri]

@Nitrox
America's military might is reality not opinion.
The left loves guns when their being used on their enemies i.e. the hype and marketing for Wolfenstein 2 and Far Cry 5.

[BlackTar187]

@nirox

You, sir, don't even think about what you're saying apparently.

[Redemption-64]

This game was never woke in any way shap or form. It came out at a bad time, looking to ride the battle royal wave and failed.

Also I find it interesting that, so many gamers always say give the devs the freedom to make the game they want, but as soon as said developer makes the game they want and say they want add diversity or inclusion, watch some of those same gamers lose their minds.

If devs want to make a game that is left leaning, let them, If they want to make a game right leaning, let them, it's their game, it's their money, you don't like, don't buy. No one is forcing you to play it, buy it or even look at it.

[Redemption-64]

hero shooter, how do you edit a comment, I am not getting an option for that

[Blank]

Your correct I did not buy it because it wasn’t vibing with me and I respected what they wanted and believed in. What really bothered me was that they were virtue signaling instead of bragging about the development chops I rather hear more about the dev kit they have somewhere instead of their proud prominent display of unisex bathrooms. I like my dev teams quiet and professional while letting their work speak for itself and any internal way they treat their staff will come back to us anyway, so yeah more chatting about game creation over politics please, thank you.

[The_Sage]

danoman... You can not edit after so many minutes. I think it's 15 but I'm not sure. Otherwise it's on the bottom next to the agree disagree options.

[Redemption-64]

@Blank
Am sorry to say this, but your views are very short sighted. At the end of the day, all you are saying is for developers to stay quiet on political views you don't agree with. Tell me, do you know a significant amount of games have politics in them? Do you always complain about them? Let me guess, NO. Only the once you disagree with. Call of duty, Assassins creed, God of war, gears of war, infamous, halo, Persona 5, Titanfall, the Witcher, Mass Effect, Spiderman, Far-cry, Horizon, killzone, battlefield, Deus Ex, the division, hitman, anthem, bioshock and so much more all have politics in them, some games built on politics, hell look at dragon age, this game is filled with nothing but politics, since the very first game, gender, sexuality, slavery, inequality, corruption and more.

Devs should be free to speak their minds, just because you don't agree with them politically doesn't mean they should stay quiet to make you happy. I was born and raised in west Africa, a place that is very very conservative and will not tolerate any liberal ideas, such as marriage equality, abortion, gay rights or anything remotely close to transgender people. Hell in some parts you go to jail or get killed for being gay or even associated with one. But I have agrown to respect the political views of other people, I want developers to speak their mind and make games they want to make, I don't need to agree with them and don't have to. If their game appeals to me, I will buy and play it, if it doesn't I will move on. If their political views is influencing the game, go right ahead, make it and speak you mind. It might fail or succeed

[Jsm89k]

This guy said he made the dark souls of shooters... Just disappear already.

[Segata]

And propping it up he said there only 8 types of games being made. He will make somehting different. Oops he made something just like everything else.

[KillBill]

Cliff Bleszinski needs to get woke about using the word woke.

[AK91]

Overwatch is plenty Woke and doing just fine it’s that you tried to make a game on a genre that can only truly have one successful game, you did the same thing with LawBreakers and look how that turned out.

[Batnut00]

I’ve never seen anyone accuse Lawbreakers of being “woke” so no clue where he’s getting that nonsense from.

[Logyoof]

This guy is a legit narcissist. Can't humble himself to save his own life.

[Bathyj]

The title didn't do it any favours. Lawbreakers? Pffft . Might as well call it. crime doers.

[Smokehouse]

The first stage of recovery. There is hope for him yet.

[ActualWhiteMan]

Game was supposed to be free to play. Then you decided about halfway through development that it wouldn’t be you piece of dog shit.

[Kshandoo]

Your game just sucked balls, Cliff

[CrimsonWing69]

Get woke go broke, Bleszinski!

[Silly gameAr]

People still say that? I thought they realized how dumb it sounded and stopped saying it. As for the game being "too woke". That's a new one too me. When people criticized the game, too woke was something I never saw as criticism. I guess he has to blame the games failure on something though.

[rainslacker]

It was a criticism. Not a major one about the game. He made some other comments around the same time as its release which incited the discussion which was going strong at the time.

I think his general attitude that his name alone would sell the game probably was the biggest problem, coupled with releasing to an oversaturated market with some much bigger players getting most if the attention. Game itself was apparently not that bad, but with games like that, especially that rely on MP, it requires a pretty hefty marketing campaign. That was outside his budget, and he probably would have had more success trying something different to set himself apart.

[2pacalypsenow]

@Silly gameAr

Did you seen the last Ghostbusters or Terminator? No? Well no one else did.

[PS4Gamer1984]

I give Cliffy B props for admitting that most devs have a political agenda and all want to be SJWs, it's a travesty Activision changed the PS4 icon of MW from the bad ass looking captain price to now some trans she male looking thing I don't even know what the hell "it" is that's on there now.

[AnubisG]

Yeah, that icon is pretty bad. The game is good though.

[Black-Helghast]

Idk what you're talking about with MW and I own it but that's not very nice, calling someone "it" for being trans.

If it's a guy trans, it's a her. If it's a female trans, it's a him. Idc about all them genders but I've been discriminated just for being latino and i bet trans will feel bad if you call them it, like an animal or object.

[PS4Gamer1984]

Being a Latino though is how you were born and you embrace it! I am totally against racial discrimination in any form, but My problem is society is trying to normalize things that are absolutely against nature and atrocious. Call me what you will, but the moment you decide to literally surgically remove your genitals to become a different gender, you cross into freak show territory and you better be well prepared for the ridicule you receive when you do something so barbaric.

[rainslacker]

I think if you have to tell people what your agenda is to get the point of your agenda across to the consumer, then you've probably not done much to put that agenda into a game in a meaningful way.

People can be smart, and ant agenda can be discuss and received if it's done well. Some may really dislike it, but if you do it right, it leads to better discussion, and makes people think on their own about their own views.

And this is where a lot of these devs, or even Hollywood or TV fail. They're telling people what to think, instead of making them think for themselves with compelling content, and nowadays they're doing it before the media even gets released.

I feel the only reason to discuss it as a selling point, at least 99% of the time, is to gain attention to feed their own ego, because it doesn't seem to be having a positive effect on sales. There are some exceptions...like hellblade said it was exploring mental health. While that's not a hot bef political topic, since it was so central to the plot, it made sense to discuss it. Saying "character A is a homosexual in our new pew pew game which doesnt even have much of a story and there is no love interest central to the campaign plot" is unneeded, and is likely to turn more people off than it is to get them interested in the game.

[The_Sage]

Well said.

[Rachel_Alucard]

The character designs were some of the most bland I've ever seen in a video game up to that point. It's a hero shooter and they failed to make any likable characters. Everyone was "super badass" and the only thing separating that was how quirky they were. Doesn't help that the gameplay was pretty uninteresting and dull.

[Godmars290]

You copied a popular game while failing to give it any individual character or real flavor.

[Da_Ocsta]

Get woke go broke biatch.

[OhReginald]

No, it was that the game wasn't good and was entering a oversaturated market of the hero shooter genre.

[Flewid638]

Im trying to think of what the game might be if it had been "woke free".

Yup, still bad.

[NiteX]

Waiting for him to make a single player FPS. You would think he would be interested in making something old school like Dusk or Amid Evil. Wrath is also looking great.

[jznrpg]

The name is lame and the characters looked generic to start

[william_cade]

I'm sure his game just sucked.

[Bluemaster77]

I mean the game wasnt appealing..

[Vithar]

just made a shit game that's all LOL

[Blu3_Berry]

There were simply too many hero shooters and the marketing was very poor. That's what happened.

[Segata]

STFU Clifford the big red moron for once in your life.

[Redemption-64]

This game was never woke to being with, it just came out at a bad time

[carcarias]

Well, it seems his new career as a theatre producer is going very well so maybe he's just spent all his gaming creativity and originality.

Sometimes a person runs out of ideas within a given field and they need to move to other pastures. Sometimes they're one-hit wonders.

Warren Spector made Deus Ex, often regarded as one of the GoaT, and then did what exactly? I think he's making SS3 but who knows if he still has the Midas touch?

[QuePasa87]

He really needs to just stop and leave it in the past and move on.

[Kumakai]

lol what?? he was a total asshole, blew off the people who made him who he was AND made a sh*t game. Pretty much the opposite of being "woke".

[darkside4125]

Haha thats what you get you liberal bitch

[adamwparker]

That's not how you spell 'weak'...

[Sophisticated_Chap]

Glad to see that he understands that gamers do not want political wokeness in games. I wish more developers would wake up.

[FullDiveDerail]

Hmm I don't think any body said that when we played it. Just bad timing and should of released as a free to play with skin unlocks.

[bluefox755]

Yeah, I don't think it really had anything to do with politics. As someone that follows gaming news pretty closely, I don't remember anything about the politics of Lawbreakers, only that it failed to get sales. The reason for it's poor sales ever never really conveyed.

[343_Guilty_Spark]

Why do people still hate this guy?

[Acecalibur]

Bare with me, but I really don't think White people know what being "woke" actually means. Its very annoying.

[kevinsheeks]

shhhh I like the spin that's been put on it.

[The_Sage]

I'm pretty sure I know what it is, but I wouldn't mind being taught.

[Acecalibur]

Woke is when you know whats really going on(who's pulling the strings, overarching hidden agendas to control or manipulate, the mysterious reasons behind things, seeing the world or big picture scenarios for what they are)

I would like my Caucasian friends to explain how that got turned into SJW politics and force fed diversity annoyances.

[The_Sage]

See... That's what I thought it initially meant but then the term was coopeted by all of these other movements. I heard it said that if you don't know that there are more than two genders you need to get woke. That confused me.

[leejohnson222]

I didn't play it so it's hard to say if it was just a bad game or his left wing bias. Most people tend to reject left wing themes in entertainment as they want escapism and entertainment, not to be lectured on how to think, act or talk. When you force a political narrative in entertainment it always looks and feels forced and generally I think is used at the detriment of good writing and developed characters.

[moriarty1889]

get woke go broke.

[Orionsangel]

He's just making excuses. The reality is there's too many fish in the water and a small narrow hole for them to fit through and get stardom. It's usually maybe 2 or 3 really big games (Fortnite, Apex Legends and Overwatch) in the genre and the dozens of other ones get lost in the mix. His game was one of those games.

[PorkMuffin]

I think he just needs to wake up

[SwagginMcdoodles]

I don't like woke shit whatsoever, but dude your game was just bad lol

[XBox4eva69]

Not gonna lie, I don't even know what that means.

[FPS_D3TH]

Honestly never once felt this game was “woke” lmao. Sounds like a short sighted whining as well as pandering to a specific group by using this as an excuse as reasoning to why his game did poorly. It’s also a vague attempt for Cliffy to find some new allies imo lol

[WelkinCole]

Nah your game just sucks Cliffy.

[Chumdiddy]

LOL total fn loser. Dude sucks.

There is a pretty popular YouTube creator named Crowbcat. Find his video on this game to see exactly how and why it failed.

Cliff is a tryhard dork and he hit ONCE with Gears. That's it. He's not a genius or creator even worth respecting beyond generally being able to develop a game.

The game sucked, was released in a crowded market and his marketing for it was cringe af.

[Orionsangel]

I don't know what's worse. SJWs and WOKE or people who constantly use those terms to whine.

[v_eno_m]

https://twitter.com/thereal...

[xX1NORM1Xx]

I like cliffyb but no you released a game that only hardcore fps players wanted at a time when overwatch was overshadowing anything that even remotely looked like it. No matter what you made at that time it would have gotten more attention as long as it wasn’t a “hero shooter” but it’s a catch 22 at the time that’s all publishers wanted so they could have their own overwatch competitor...

[-Gespenst-]

Nah, you just couldn't compete with Overwatch, which incidentally is a vastly more "woke" game, and has done very well indeed. To be honest, I don't know if the woke stuff really impacts sales that much, positively or negatively. It turns off a vocal minority, and attracts a small number of those who care about representation and whatnot. If the game just isn't that special, people aren't going to play it for long.