Battleborn – Deep in the Shadow of Overwatch
Battleborn, the colorful and tough MOBA shooter from Gearbox, is also on the endangered species list. However, Battleborn is not a bad game. Quite the opposite, most critics agree that Battleborn has cool characters, a humorous story (keyword: Borderlands humor), and engaging multiplayer gameplay.
As one of dozens of quirky heroes, you either fight in a kind of shooter-MOBA against other players or team up in coop to complete engaging missions full of action and humor. Actually a recipe for success!
Unfortunately, Gearbox’s MOBA-coop shooter early on went up against Blizzard’s mega-hit Overwatch. Although both games had little in common, they were often compared to each other and competed for the same player base: fans of online shooters.
Against Blizzard’s overwhelming market power, Gearbox and publisher 2K couldn’t compete. To make matters worse, the free open beta of Overwatch was released just a few days after the launch of Battleborn, further undermining the game’s chances.
Battleborn – Death by Blizzard
The consequences: as soon as Overwatch came out, the numbers for Battleborn plummeted. Shortly after, the game was offered at a bargain price, and studio head Randy Pitchford tirelessly maintained that the game was a success in the media, even though it clearly was not anymore.
Through the controversial decision to allow microtransactions in the game, more loyal players were driven away. Even a fan event called “Battleborn Day” couldn’t revive the game despite the great commitment of the fan scene.
The player base of Battleborn is steadily declining, and currently, only a few hundred people play the game per day. Due to the poor performance of Battleborn, market experts even see the studio Gearbox and thus the eagerly anticipated Borderlands sequel in danger.
