Recently, reports came out about Gearbox Software turning Battleborn into a free-to-play game. However, Gearbox’s Randy Pitchford has denied that Battleborn is going to be free-to-play but confirmed that a trila version of the game will be released soon. Here’s what we know so far about the Battleborn free-to-play rumors.
Recently, Kotaku reported that Battleborn will go free-to-play soon due to its underperforming status and history of success in making Evolve free-to-play. Potentially, making Battleborn free-to-play may make its playerbase rise to healthy levels. However, on Twitter, Pitchford dismissed the rumors that there’s a chance for a Battleborn free-to-play.
However, Pitchford confirmed plans of a trial version. Pitchford also clarified in a tweet that the Battleborn trial version isn’t a timed demo, but they’ll have to plan things first before they give out a concrete announcement. We’ll have to wait and see how Gearbox will make the trial version.
UNDERPERFORMING GAME
While the free-to-play report has been debunked, it’s true that Battleborn is not doing well. During Battleborn’s release, Blizzard Entertainment’s Overwatch extremely overshadowed the game and heavily affected its starting population. Battleborn definitely has an edge of its own but it just didn’t win enough audience to make a healthy community out of the game. Perhaps the Battleborn trial version coming out soon may help the game rack in some population count for the game’s longevity.
LAGGING BEHIND
Other than Overwatch, Paladins from Hi-Rez Studios has already beat Battleborn’s population count according to Steam Charts. BattleBorn’s 12,070 all-time peak is extremely defeated by Paladin’s daily player peak of 40,912 as of the fourth week of September. To be fair, Paladins is a free-to-play hero shooter game that received press for being similar to Overwatch. Potentially, Paladins benefitted from the negative coverage and garnered an audience of its own.
Currently, Overwatch is now on a major update downtime as players are busy climbing the Competitive Play Season 2 ladders. Battleborn may have to step it up if they want to catch up and stay in the competition soon. For now, we can only wait for Battleborn’s trial version to see if it will either make a comeback or further fall into obscurity.
[SOURCE:-The Bitbag]
