Featuring German subtitles, the online shooter Battleborn presents a 23-minute video from E3.
Somewhat oddly, about a year ago Gearbox briefly introduced Battleborn. Back then, it sounded like an interesting new concept: a hybrid of MOBA and shooter. Meanwhile, Blizzard has surpassed them with Overwatch and Evolve follows a similar pattern: a team-based shooter in an arena with fixed structures.
In the meantime, the hype surrounding the MOBA market has cooled down after even titles with strong licenses crashed. Many developers now avoid the term “MOBA” for fear of falling into the “Oh, another one trying to steal from League of Legends” drawer. One thesis even states that there is no MOBA market, but only one for League of Legends (and admittedly, a bit for DOTA 2).
Also, Gearbox doesn’t want to be seen as a MOBA. Admittedly, some modes look like that, but a “game with specific tasks that has both AI and player combatants” is still far from a MOBA, and they prefer a description like “competitive coop online shooter with elements from numerous games.” Well, will that stick?
But despite all the negative climate changes in the last 12 months for the project, it’s also nonsense to declare Battleborn dead before its birth. Gearbox relies on the pretty crazy “Borderlands” aesthetic and could succeed with the mix. They can undoubtedly make shooters.
Have fun with the gameplay from E3.
