Battleborn hasn’t been doing so well. If I remember correctly, the latest concurrent player peaks on Steam have barely surpassed 300 players and that’s… well, it’s not good. Battleborn was doomed from the beginning. It released at the worst possible time, going head-to-head with Overwatch . Overwatch took the industry by storm, offering players a unique and polished twist on the class-based shooter. It decided to do one thing, and do it very well.
Battleborn , on the other hand, turned out to be a strange mix between a class-based shooter, a MOBA, and a story-driven FPS. It didn’t do any of those things particularly well, and as a result the game turned out to be utterly forgettable. Battleborn saw price reductions immediately after launch, but it wasn’t enough. Something needs to change if Gearbox wants Battleborn to maintain something that even resembles a community by the time the holidays roll around.
Kotaku reported that such a change was indeed coming soon. Jason Schreier reported that he had sources at Gearbox indicating that a free-to-play model was in the works for Battleborn and might be announced as soon as November. Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford took to Twitter to deny the report, claiming it to be reckless and false. Below is a series of tweets sent out by Pitchford:
“I was just told about a reckless story about Battleborn going F2P that is false. There are no plans to convert Battleborn free to play. We have some unannounced plans to do a trial version of the game that would be free and from which retail can be purchased along with DLC.”
Schreier appeared on NeoGAF to clear the air and share exactly what he had heard from his sources. His source says that there will be a multiplayer mode (or possibly modes) that are completely free to play as much as people want. Heroes will be featured on a kind of rotation, like in League of Legends . Full hero selection, all modes, and the story mode will be kept behind a paywall. I’m not sure about you guys, but for what it’s worth, that sounds kinda free-to-play to me. Maybe we can settle on “free-to-start?”
Pitchford has been known to be a bit of a jerk online, and unfortunately he spent a good part of his night arguing with random people on Twitter about what this free trial model actually represents. Semantics aside, a free-to-play Battleborn is pretty much the only thing that will salvage the community at this point, and the only thing that might save the game (if indeed it can be saved). Gearbox failed to develop a game with the broad appeal of an Overwatch , or even of a Team Fortress 2 . This is a game that will only appeal to those with whom Gearbox’s unique aesthetic and sense of humor happen to click. Not everyone is willing to risk their hard-earned cash to discover whether or not the game is for them. Some of you will love it – you just need to get your hands on it first.
We don’t care what you call it, Pitchford. Call it a demo; call it free-to-start; call it F2P. It doesn’t matter. What matters is expanding your player-base and selling some DLC. Get it out there, and do it fast. Don’t shoot yourselves in the foot… again.