Gearbox says it’s started the process of “sunsetting” hero shooter Battleborn, and has warned fans that the game will go offline for good in January 2021.
Battleborn was reasonably well-received when it launched for PC and consoles in 2016, with many praising its ambitious, inventive blend of first-person shooting and MOBA-style action, even if the combination didn’t always land in practice.
Unfortunately for Battleborn, it was quickly overshadowed by Blizzard’s Overwatch, whose success was as immediate and sustained as Battleborn’s failure. Publisher 2K declared it a flop a little over three months after its release, and Gearbox adopted a free-to-play model the following year in a last-ditch bid to attract more players.
Battleborn Launch Trailer Watch on YouTube
Despite those efforts, Battleborn just wasn’t to be and, a few months later, Gearbox announced its team would be moving to other projects and would no longer be updating the game. It did, however, pledge to keep its servers up and active “for the foreseeable future”.