Battleborn Switches To A Free-To-Play Model... Or Not [VIDEO]

General news News 06/07/2017

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Gearbox’ boss went against a few statements.

Battleborn, in short, wanted to be the rival of Overwatch. However, it didn’t happen: in no time, Blizzard’s still quite popular shooter massively destroyed Gearbox’ game’s hopes. A year ago, Take-Two, the publisher, already said that they have no intention to give up just yet – that’s a bad sign. How can the game get attention?

By switching to a free model, perhaps. Battleborn became „free-to-play,” and this is the moment where Randy Pitchford steps in on Twitter with responses such as „Try to find it on 1st party dashboards under F2P. Oh, you can’t? But there’s a demo/trial option that’s free? I see now – demo/trial != F2P,” or „The business model for this game is retail with DLC, not F2P. I have no issue with F2P, but do care about setting correct expectations,” or „It would actually be better for game if it was under F2P dashboard listing. Discoverability is hampered because it is a trial.”

Let’s clear the situation up: you can access Battleborn‘s competitive multiplayer without any limitations, but you will be forced to choose one of six available heroes that are on a weekly rotation. „Players who have already purchased and played Battleborn before the launch of the Free Trial are now awarded Founder Status and will receive a slew of in-game item rewards including loot packs, credits, an exclusive “Founder’s Crown” Flair item and more. Flair are special pieces of gear introduced with the arrival of the Free Trial that bestow visual components on heroes, such as horns and headwear,” the announcement says.

Pitchford’s reason to go against the term free-to-play happened due to Kotaku‘s article (). At least we questioned the term.

Yes, you’ll need PlayStation Plus/Xbox Live Gold on consoles!

Try to find it on 1st party dashboards under F2P. Oh, you can’t? But there’s a demo/trial option that’s free? I see now – demo/trial != F2P.

— Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) June 6, 2017

The business model for this game is retail with DLC, not F2P. I have no issue with F2P, but do care about setting correct expectations.

— Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) June 6, 2017

It would actually be better for game if it was under F2P dashboard listing. Discoverability is hampered because it is a trial.

— Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) June 6, 2017

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Angyal Anikó

Anikó, our news editor and communication manager, is more interested in the business side of the gaming industry. She worked at banks, and she has a vast knowledge of business life. Still, she likes puzzle and story-oriented games, like Sherlock Holmes: Crimes & Punishments, which is her favourite title. She also played The Sims 3, but after accidentally killing a whole sim family, swore not to play it again. (For our office address, email and phone number check out our IMPRESSUM)