The Last Respawn
Gearbox’s venture into the hero-shooter genre has been put to rest. They released Battleborn in 2016 as a challenge to Blizzard’s Ovewatch, which still remains an incredibly popular game. Unfortunately for Gearbox, Battleborn just did not measure up. As the months and years went on, Battleborn began slipping further into obscurity by descending the Ladder of Dying Multiplayer games. This involved going free-to-play, removal of premium currencies, the final update, and lastly The Shutdown. After 4 years, 10 months, and 29 days, Battleborn is officially gone. May you finally take your place, resting in the halls of wherever.
The development life of Battleborn began sometime in 2014, when Randy Pitchford announced it. Even before its release, parallels between the game and Overwatch were drawn, and after they had both launched, its fate was all but sealed. Overwatch launched with ever-increasing popularity and Battleborn, well… it launched. In 2017, Gearbox released Battleborn’s final major update; the proverbial nail in the coffin. Still, it took almost four more years before players had their last chance to play their last game. January 31st, 2021 was the last time Battleborn was played. Though it had a campaign mode, the always-online-ness means that without servers, the game cannot be played.
The greeting message now (which is more like a goodbye message) reads: “Heroes! It’s been a hell of a ride, but all fights must end. The campaign and multiplayer are no longer available as the Battleborn servers are offline. Thank you for playing.” RIP in Peace. Battleborn is now longer available for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Did you enjoy your time with Battleborn? Let us know in the comments below.