| Source: Battleborn is Going Free-To-Play Soon The underperforming hero shooter Battleborn will go free-to-play within the couple of months, a person familiar with plans for the game told Kotaku. Word is the announcement will come by mid-November, but that could change. (We hear the move has already been delayed a couple of times.) The source, speaking under condition of anonymity, said that developer Gearbox had wanted to make Battleborn free-to-play from the get-go, but publisher 2K preferred to sell it as a standard $60 retail product.
Battleborn’s price has been steadily decreasing since it came out in May, and the game is now selling for just $20 at Amazon and some other retailers. The developers have regularly held events and released new content for the game, including free heroes and PVP maps. Gearbox also plans to release story missions and more heroes later this year. The studio will likely offer some sort of reward for current players once Battleborn goes free, although those plans have not yet been finalized, according to the source. One of the inspirations for this decision, the source said, is the success of 2K’s Evolve, which went free-to-play on PC in July and skyrocketed to the top of Steam’s charts. After going free, Evolve saw its concurrent player count jump from the hundreds to over 25,000. Gearbox and 2K have not yet returned requests for comment. More on Kotaku |
