Blog Post: Battleborn Will Receive Its Final Update This Fall

Battleborn may not have been nearly as popular as its shooter/MOBA competiton, but it's been receiving regular content updates and changes. Back in June, it added a substantive free trial to get new players on board, as well as a new competitive multiplayer mode. Despite this and the efforts of players to keep the game alive, Gearbox is winding down on actively developing the game.

Speaking on the official Gearbox forums, Battleborn creative director Randy Varnell made the announcement that "there will be no more Battleplans and there is currently no planned content after the Fall Update," Varnell said. After that update, which adds Borderlands-themed characters skins, balance changes, and a new multiplayer map, the Battleborn team will shift over to working on Gearbox's next, unannounced game. "Although I’m sad my time on Battleborn is coming to a close, I’m happy to announce that I will play a significant role on this highly anticipated but unannounced game," Varnell said. "I’m sure you’ll be hearing some from me again in the future regarding Gearbox games."

Although it will not be receiving further updates, Battleborn servers will remain active "for the foreseeable future," according to Varnell.

 

Our Take
I'll be the first to say that I didn't love Battleborn (it was "alright" in a genre that demands more in order to keep players loyal), but it's still sad to a multiplayer game end its life. Some of the comments on Varnell's post left me wistful; although there aren't as many of them as Gearbox would have liked, people do still love Battleborn, and seeing them lose something they love is disappointing. C'est la vie.

Battleborn quietly closing down, 15 months after launch

No more updates, says Gearbox

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Battleborn's Creative Director Says Fall Update Will Be Its Last

Gearbox Software’s Battleborn shifts into the twilight years of its lifespan, as the developer announced today that there is no planned content after the upcoming fall update.

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Six Borderlands skins coming to Battleborn

Ever since the launch of Gearbox's meta-growth first-person MOBA Battleborn, fans of the studio have wanted Borderlands-flavored skins for it. The upcoming update will finally be bringing some of those to the table.

Six premium skins were shown at Gearbox's PAX panel, including Alani as Maya, Caldarius with Maliwan branding, El Dragón as a Psycho, ISIC as Claptrap, Orendi as Tiny Tina, and Rath as Zer0. In addition to the updated visuals, ISIC and Rath will come with new audio to match the characters.

Orendi's voice will also be done by the same actor who did Tiny Tina. (This is a bad joke that requires a lot of insider knowledge and even when you have it the payoff is low. I'm sorry.)

Along with the skins, the update this fall will also bring a new PvP map and a bunch of character balance tweaks.

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News: Six years after its release, Brink is free for everyone on Steam

Brink has gone free-to-play on PC after six years

We occasionally see multiplayer-focused games go free-to-play when they underperform. Evolve and Battleborn are two recent examples; publisher 2K Games eventually made them free when it was clear that residual sales had dried up, both in an effort raise the active player count and to earn some cash from in-game purchases.

Today's instance is a weird one. With no real heads-up, Bethesda has turned Brink free-to-play. History has long passed over Brink, as it's an old game without much of an audience anymore. This Steam player tracker estimates that there was a peak concurrent player count of 44 in July.

The timing is odd considering that Brink originally released in May 2011, but the way this game is generally regarded makes things even more confusing. Brink launched to a largely tepid reception, as reviewers mostly agreed that it never fully made good on its ideas for movement-based combat. It looked cool in a way that it couldn't deliver on.

The question attached to Brink going free-to-play is: What does Bethesda have up its sleeve? Publishers rarely give a product away for free without an ulterior motive, even if that product is six years old and incapable of driving revenue anymore. Is there some sort of Brink resurgence on the horizon, maybe via a sequel? Is the free-to-play version planning microtransactions in the near future?

Regardless, the free-to-play route is already working to some degree. At time of writing, 343 people were playing Brink. That might not be a particularly impressive number compared to other Steam games, but it's the most for Brink since July 2012. Improbably, this fast multiplayer shooter is back from the brink of death, even though many assumed it was already long dead.

Brink [Steam]