release game, sell premium alpha access, shut down. That's some pro strats. Sucks for Cliff, gotta respect someone who tried to make something unique and skill oriented, he just got beat out by trends.
They should have made a single player game. Multiplayer only games need to come out of the gate swinging. Single player can ramp up to popularity over time.
Law breakers did look kinda cool though. Unfortunately many people are probably like me and by the time they heard about it there were already stories about a low player base. Nobody wants to buy a multiplayer only game that no one's playing, no matter how good it looks.