When a game commits itself to functioning mostly online, it's also betting that it'll be popular for a long time. Unlike a singleplayer game, a multiplayer game can quickly become expensive to keep up if it's not successful. Servers don't pay for themselves. That's the unfortunate truth that became clear to Gearbox in the wake of Battleborn. Although many people may largely have forgotten about Battleborn, it was around for more than four years. However, those days are over. At the end of January, Gearbox officially shuttered Battleborn, deactivating the game's servers and thanking Battleborn's fans for years of devotion.
Battleborn wasn't exactly a commercial success, but that isn't entirely its own fault. It just happened to come out at the wrong time. Initially, Battleborn was unique for belonging to a rising game category: a hero shooter, combining the character selection of MOBAs with FPS gameplay. Unfortunately for Gearbox, Blizzard just so happened to release Overwatch right around the same time. It goes without saying that Overwatch was a huge commercial success at launch, and still maintains lots of active players. It's so successful that Blizzard is ramping up to release Overwatch 2. Battleborn, meanwhile, has been left in the dust.
RELATED: The Best Overwatch Mercy Cosplays
Battleborn never really recovered from the unfortunate timing of Overwatch's release. Although it drew a sizable community at launch, the player base cratered as soon as Overwatch launched. This could be partially because of Battleborn's complexity, which many critics had mixed feelings on. Battleborn's mechanics had a lot of depth for die-hard fans to appreciate, but Overwatch was significantly more beginner friendly. The developers at Gearbox were naturally desperate for a fix, since they would presumably lose a lot of money on the game if Overwatch kept drawing new players over. That's when Battleborn transitioned to a largely free-to-play model.
For a while, the game sustained itself in this way. Gearbox introduced various microtransactions for things like cosmetics, trying to draw in new players with a free game and encourage them to stay with in-game investments. Unfortunately, this wasn't enough to bring the game back to life. Only a year and a half after Battleborn launched, Gearbox announced that the game was receiving its last patch. The studio would only keep enough staff on hand to maintain the game as necessary; there would be no new content for Battleborn. The game persisted this way for a few years before finally fans learned it would be officially shut down in 2021.
RELATED: Why Overwatch 2 Fans Are Worried Over the Latest Genji News
Battleborn fans have known this day would come for a long time now. The game's shuttering was announced in 2019, so they've had plenty of time to say goodbye. Bit by bit, purchases related to Battleborn had been disabled, and now the servers are permanently closed. Battleborn's remaining community may have been small, but they were certainly devoted to the game. Battleborn's subreddit is now filled with tributes to the game and expressions of gratitude for the friends and memories made with Battleborn's help.
It's always a shame to see an online game close. Singleplayer games can always be revisited, but unless fans take it upon themselves to somehow develop Battleborn fan servers, it's gone for good. Reviews at its launch often agreed that there was a lot of depth to the game, but it just wasn't very approachable, and it happened to release at the wrong time. Battleborn's developers have lamented its comparisons to Overwatch for years, and now fans have seen the final effects of the battle for hero shooter supremacy. Battleborn may not have been a success story, but it'll still be missed. It had quite an impact on the community that learned to love it.