RUMOR: Battleborn may be going free-to-play soon

RUMOR: Battleborn may be going free-to-play soon

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Update: Randy Pitchford said that a trial version was being considered and it won’t be going free-to-play altogether.

Battleborn, Gearbox’s MOBA-FPS, will be turning to a free-to-play model in the future.

Much like Turtle Rock Studios’ Evolve, Battleborn not only saw a spiked drop in concurrent players shortly after launch but also underperformed in terms of sales. Many linked this to Gearbox fans being disappointed that Battleborn wasn’t a sequel to the successful Borderlands series; fans were still angry about the release of both Duke Nukem Forever and Aliens: Colonial Marines and, the most important one, many thought that Battleborn was too similar to Overwatch—a thought that simply wasn’t true.

A source close to development told Kotaku that the announcement will be coming sometime in mid-November, although this move has already been delayed numerous times. According to the same source, Gearbox originally wanted Battleborn to be free-to-play although their publisher, 2K, wanted the game to be sold at the standard $60 retail price. With the release of Blizzard’s Overwatch in the same timeframe—a tactic that Blizzard uses many times with the release of their games—Overwatch decimated the competition even though Battleborn offered much more content for the same price.

Since its release in May, Battleborn has seen many price decreases and was even in a Humble Bundle recently on PC, being available for just $15. Even though Battleborn has been supported much more than Overwatch and a lot of other multiplayer titles, including new heroes and maps, Battleborn has failed to gain any traction since its release.

Source: Kotaku

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