Rest In Peace Battleborn (2016 to 2021)

[Husky_Khan]

Battleborn Servers Are Shutting Down for Good Soon

Remember Battleborn, the beleaguered hero shooter from Gearbox Software that’s been winding down [...]

comicbook.com

Battleborn, a first person hero shooter with some MOBA elements and overall somewhat similar to Overwatch, will be shut down forever in about a week.

Eclipsed by Overwatch which was released a few weeks after Gearbox's Battleborn, the critically acclaimed game never really took off and since 2019 an announcement was made the servers would shut down in 2021 and the game would be unplayable either in multiplayer or single player.

Of course there's probably easy fixes to making the game playable offline but 2K probably doesn't want to bother. They got your money after all already.

RIP.

 

[Battlegrinder]

I'm actually surprised this is happening, I thought it was shut down years ago when it's ill advised attempt to tackle Overwatch head-on failed miserably, I didn't know it was actually still running.

 

[Syzygy]

In the battle of brands you better hope your parent company has more money to throw around than theirs, and the incentive to do so.

 

[Bear Ribs]

One reason I almost never play multi-player games, I see no reason to invest time and effort (or money) in a game that will evaporate out from under me someday when the company feels like it.

 

[ParadiseLost]

One reason I almost never play multi-player games, I see no reason to invest time and effort (or money) in a game that will evaporate out from under me someday when the company feels like it.

Eh, this is more true of exclusively multiplayer games.

Black Ops (the original) multiplayer is still online... but even if it went offline, it'd still have a great single player campaign.

 

[Bear Ribs]

Eh, true enough and even one-player games are starting to get in on it. I'll never play Diablo III because you don't get the game, just a connection to their server that's going to go as soon as the server does. Between potentially having the game stolen out from under me if they decide it's not profitable and not being able to extend my time playing it via mods the franchise slipped right out of my interest zone.

 

[ParadiseLost]

Eh, true enough and even one-player games are starting to get in on it. I'll never play Diablo III because you don't get the game, just a connection to their server that's going to go as soon as the server does. Between potentially having the game stolen out from under me if they decide it's not profitable and not being able to extend my time playing it via mods the franchise slipped right out of my interest zone.

Just get the Nintendo Switch or PS3 version. They are both playable offline.

 

[Val the Moofia Boss]

My impression of Battleborn is that it wasn't really that comparable to Overwatch gameplay wise. Battleborn is a 3 lane MOBA. Overwatch is more like TF2 where you are escorting a car. That being said, the cartoonish artstyle, first person gameplay with limited abilities, team based competitive play, and releasing within a few weeks of each other did not help one bit.

Battleborn just never appealed to me OW did. The characters came across as... well, you know. Typical Western snarky and irreverent and cocky characters, whereas Overwatch's characters like Reinhard and Winston exuded sincerity and felt warm. I guess OW's characters and lore just appealed to me more.

 

[LTR]

I had some good memories of playing Battleborn with the youngins. I got it for cheap like a year after its release and it was great.

Overwatch definitely seemed a bit more broad but I never played it much. The characters in both were fun but it seems like the Battleborn ones never really got developed despite being just as distinct. And Blizzard's 'cartoony' style it used in previous games echoed here in being more 'fun' in the atmosphere. The Battleborn feeling was a bit more edgy and cocky and cinematic and I guess it just wasn't as mainstream and popular.

Sad to see it go. It's almost literally the only game I played on my largely dust collecting X-Bone (before it died, likely due to lack of use). It's always surreal (and kinda sad) to witness the death of a game that is still fresh in your memory.