Gearbox Software Quietly Shutting Down Battleborn

Gearbox Software’s Battleborn is seemingly coming to an end, following its launch in May of last year.

Battleborn’s creative director Randy Varnell confirmed the game’s next update would be its last, and that’s that. Despite the game’s active development being definitively shut down, Varnell promised that “servers will be up and active for the foreseeable future.”


The game launched in the beginning of May 2016, while Blizzard’s Overwatch launched three weeks later, quickly dominating the “me too colorful hero shooter” genre. Despite many attempts from other developers to also be a “me too colorful hero shooter,” Overwatch is still king.

“As of this week, there will be no more Battleplans and there is currently no planned content after the Fall Update,” Varnell said. “Details of any future changes or news will be made on our forums or through social media, so keep your radars on.”

Despite many attempts (cutting the price in half, only to now be free to play) to keep the game going or garner any attention to it (like Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford pointing to a curious Rule34 subreddit of the game), the game seemed to never really hit those concurrent user numbers.

Now publisher 2K Games is probably the force behind Gearbox pulling the plug. Two weeks ago Gearbox also confirmed the game’s Fall Update, but that’s not happening now.

“I’ve been working on Battleborn nearly exclusively since 2012, and in some ways, that work stretches back to 2009 for me,” Varnell said. “Also, I want to personally thank you for giving Battleborn a chance, and dipping down into a new universe with us. We make games for you. And many of you have shared with us how much Battleborn has meant to you personally.”

Finally, Varnell mentioned a new project the developer has cooking in the oven now, which he described as “highly anticipated.” This is presumably what their team has moved on to develop instead.

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