Why Did Battleborn Fail So Hard?

Battleborn has seemingly crashed and burned. Gearbox’s next big thing has barely left a impact. It’s a curious thing to see a triple A release go from development to release and be left utterly in the shadows. Whose fault is it? Why did Battleborn fail to appeal to the masses? There’s a whole host of reasons that contribute the final result.

[Garethvk]

I always find plenty of people online to play with and I really enjoy it. Also sales have been in line with the first Bordlerlands and it was the best seller in the U.K. the week of launch so it is doing ok.

[Eonjay]

Can't argue with that.

[DualWielding]

I think it may have something to do with the title... I can't believe some professionals were actually paid to come with the name battleborn

[EddieNX]

They just cellotaped the names of Battlefield and Bloodbourne together and thought, that'l do!

There nxt game will be called something like Call of Overwatch...

[uth11]

I think they put certain words in a hat like 'shadow', 'souls', 'titan', 'dream', 'dawn', 'bo(u)rn(e)', etc and pick two or three.

Horizon Zero Dawn sounds like it was named using this method

[Xavior_Reigns]

"WatchCall"

[Lighter9]

Makes me think, "Dragonborn."

[jznrpg]

Did you play Everquest? I realize the name Dual Wielding may be used occasiinally but I dont see it much

[DualWielding]

no is not a reference to any specific game, I just like people dualwielding stuff in general

[RoseSapphire]

Failed? That doesn't seem accurate.

[PixelGateUk]

look at the sales and player numbers, by the goals set by Gearbox, it is indeed failing. I still like the game mind.

[Stereotypical_gamer]

Good article, I was wondering if you thought that there may have been other factors involved? I am huge fan of borderlands but I hate mmo/mobas, I don't have the time to invest and the bigger factor is I don't like the pricing structures of either genre. So my question is do you think that there are other people who like me are huge gearbox fans but not fans of the mmo/moba?

[PixelGateUk]

@Stereotypical_gamer

I honestly just think it was nothing more than bad timing and bad marketing. Battleborn never really had a identity. You look at the marketing for most games and it gives you a idea what it is. Uncharted 4, big story driven action. Doom, loud, brash and direct shooting.

Battleborn was just 'from the people who made borderlands' then they slapped on all the humour. Most people weren't sure what exactly the game is/was, and asking £45-50 for the unknown is quite a lot.

[ShinRon]

Blizzard rekt them, game shoulda dropped in feb or something

[joab777]

Exactly. And they knew it was a risK making this game. Launching during an Overwatch beta gave ot little chance.

[Volkama]

If they had launched earlier or later it's pretty likely that the Overwatch Beta would still have coincided with any date they chose. I'm a fan of Blizzard, but they do have a fairly vindictive habbit of using their stature to suffocate any fledgling rivals to their games.

[rdgneoz3]

@volkama. Doesn't hurt that the set up of overwatch lets you play any character in the game and not lock some behind annoying crap (hit level such and such, kill so many of these kind) like most free to play games do, but at $60.

Instead of risking making the game, they should have given their fans the proper borderlands sequel. The co o.o in Battleborn felt tacted on.

[iDadio]

Yeah the wrong timing, I know Battleborn and Overwatch arnt like for like but if you consider them both team based games it was always going to hurt one of them massively. Don't think many could of predicted the success of Overwatch's beta even with it being blizzard, that swayed a ton of people in its favour.

[TXIDarkAvenger]

I mean its not even a good game and the marketing for it was terrible.

[Rumb13stiltzkin]

2K announced Battleborn's May 3 release date on November 15, 2015:
http://www.pcgamer.com/batt...

Blizzard announced Overwatch's May 24 release date (and May 3 open beta) on March 7, 2016:
http://www.gamespot.com/art...

[antikbaka]

Failed - not yet. But th problem is just - release of competetive game for a greater company with larger fanbase. And Fans are always toxic and hateful.

[Dan_scruggs]

Did it? Plenty of people seem to like it. Oh I forgot... Internet.

[TehRadge]

Yup, that 'ol echo chamber.
I'm playing Battleborn regularly and enjoying it. It's all I expected from the game so it's not a failure as far as I'm concerned.

The press had it in for the game before it was even released.

[PixelGateUk]

Hence why my previous coverage was positive...and the fact i paid full price for my copy, thus supporting the game.

[PixelGateUk]

See previous comment. The goals were much higher in terms of sales and active player bases. It has nothing to do with being negative, i bought the game at launch and still enjoy it. Doesn't mean i won't talk about the game's less than strong sales and impact.

[Dan_scruggs]

So are you going to wright an article declaring that Uncharted 4 is a failure because it didn't exceed the opening sales of Uncharted 3. I'm gonna guess not.

http://www.gamespot.com/art...

[PixelGateUk]

@Dan_Scruggs, If i have spare time, perhaps i will? i do this as a hobby between jobs, responsibilities and other hobbies.

@StardustLemon1 Click bait claims on a site with no adverts are water off a duck's back.

'but none of it really points to the game "failing so hard."

So here's some numbers for you

- http://steamcharts.com/app/...

- https://steamdb.info/app/39...

All of which showing the rather low number for a new game, with a ton of marketing, focused on multiplayer.

'This journalism thing doesn't seem to be a forte of yours.'

I'm not trying to be a journalist. I do this as a hobby, hence why i have no adverts, donation buttons or paterons.

[PixelGateUk]

@Lemon.

Twitch numbers - low
Player numbers - shrinking
Retail Value - knocked down already
General buzz across the board - low

Ignore it all, continue to try and insult me. You're just ignoring numerous things while acting toxic (again). It's cool if you like the game. I still enjoy it, but I'm not ignoring the failings of the marketing and release window (which is what most of the post talks about).

Have a nice week and cheer up! you're more than welcome to run a site off your own back, fund it and post about what you find interesting!

[Manubiggs]

I wouldn't use the word failed. Should have definitely released much earlier ...looks to similar to Overwatch and has been overshadowed.

[TheDivine]

Only speaking for myself but the game looks trash as hell. Boring, terrible art style, not even sure what it is. Some Moab fps type thing I'm totally uninterested in.

[Benoski]

Too many other big releases was the problem, but Overwatch is the main culprit behind Battleborn's failure.

[Night99]

There are way to many games like this, I don't get why publishers always fall into the same traps. Something bcomes popular and suddenly every publisher wants to make this exact same newly popular type of game but 95% of this new developed games fail because customers don't want 100 times the same game. Remember when Call of duty 4 modern warfare was released and suddenly publishers made 100s of call of duty look a like games and they all thought their new games and even already existing IP's like Resident Evil had to be like Call of Duty and they all failed. Or remember when 2 world war shooters become popular and PC and suddenly almost every new game developed on PC was a 2 world war shooter and almost all games fail or when World of Warcraft and MMOs become a phenomenon and very publishers suddenly wanted to make MMOs and all games were a fail. It is the exact same things with Moba and Moba-Shooter games now, a few games become popular like league of legends or Overwatch and now all publishers think it is a good idea to make a similar game and 95% of this games will fail.

Publishers are just dumb they will never learn, history will repeat and repeat and repeat, how would it be if publishers just get for once commonsense and look at the history and see no it is pointless to develop a similar game only because 1 game had a huge success and develope instead something entirely different somehting more unique this approach would have way more chance to be a success because gamers want diversity not 100 look a like games.

[rivaldoo777]

If you have a common sense don't ever release a game near ND nor Blizzard release date. Simple as that. Division would have suffered the same thing if the release date was swapped with battleborn IMO

[MilkMan]

I have utterly loved every minute of this game. It's balanced, polished [email protected] fun to play.
The issue is timing. People are/confused between this game and Overwatch. All one must do is spent 30 minutes with Battleborn and you realize the games are like night and day and in fact requires a he'll of a lot more skill and coordination than a Pixar COD clone.
There are characters in Battleborn that you can't even use to solo because their role isn't really suited for that.
I could go on and on about how great Battleborn is, but I think it's healthy. I don't have hard data, but there is always people to play with and against at all times of the day, and team work is essentialocated, and so far the people I've played with have been top notch.

Just for the record, Overwatch is a good game also, but this is a Battleborn article and frankly, I like BB more.

[OldGuyStillGaming]

I'm tempted to buy it on XBL for $38
I played the beta and loved it but the reviews of it saying it's repetitive kinda made me use the money for a different game

[MoveTheGlow]

I think he's right about the marketing being an issue. I had no idea what that game was when I saw the advertisements, and when I saw them, I assumed I was looking at an iteration on Smite and just disengaged completely. If I knew more about what it played like back then, I'd have been hyped.

Plus, Gearbox has this sense of humor that seems like it belongs in the early 2000s, and it hasn't really aged well. Every line of dialogue in Battleborn sounds like it could have come right out of Borderlands 2. It's still clever enough, but it's just a little old at this point.

[Gardenia]

Because it turned out to be a MOBA, which is not what most expected or wanted

[Bismarn]

Battleborn failed for a multitude of reasons:

#1 Overwatch Beta came out at the same time

#2 - #50 See #1

[BlakHavoc]

Cause it sucks

[MeteorPanda]

Also blizzard are pricks. they did everything they could during battleborns release to sabotage it all l saw in ads on gaming websites was "Overwatch beta! COME FUCKING PLAY!" and all the articles were about the beta, l think bliz paid these websites to spam overwatch beta stuff. it was disgusting.

[BEASELY]

Dude, it's just a way better game. I heavily frequent gaming podcasts from all outlets and let me tell you; there were no journalists excited for Battleborn at all.

[UnHoly_One]

Of course Blizzard paid websites to spam stuff about the Overwatch Beta.

That's how advertising works.

[GrimDragon]

No matter how bad a game actually is. There will always be people who play it and enjoy it. But probably not enough to make a game profitable. But once overwatch came into the scene it completely decimated any chance of battleborn making significant sales. Overwatches controversy and pretty females may have helped seal battleborns fate

[JamesBroski]

I'd play it... if it was 20$ with the season pass or even free-to-play. The beta was alright and it could be fun playing with friends. The 80$ CAD price tag is ridiculous.

[CaitSith]

Why would I buy a game made by Randy Pitchford?

[cimerians]

Overwatch over shadowed it, plus I don't think it got a lot of hype in general. Have no idea if its a good game or not, plus the name of the game is awful.

[BlackTar187]

They were stupid to not delay it till a month or 2 after Overwatch. People already myself included have trouble thinking which was which and then one is made by blizzard. They just were dumb for the release window. Sure have confidence in your product but don't pit yourself against blizzard if you don't have to.

[Nivekki]

Because Gearbox are shit.

[pandehz]

Old artstyle, unoriginal and forced weird settings and characters, horrendous story, too much flashes in the effects and gunplay that its hard to enjoy any particular thing, slightly floaty controls, meh moba, meh almost every other department.

[Tankbusta40]

While I cannot comment on how many people are still playing it(didn't buy after the beta) I can say that the decision to make it a three lane mobaish wasn't smart. Console players are not into MOBAs

[ARESWARLORD]

I love battleborn I think it's an awesome game I'm playing it way more than OverWatch

[FunAndGun]

I know I'm in the minority but I didn't pick it up because I have been addicted to Paragon. Will buy it later on sale at some point. The beta was fun and I really don't understand people who say it sucks. Why is everything either the best ever or garbage? Both Overwatch and Battleborn can be good games and co-exist.

[PixelGateUk]

Paragon is good fun, love the character design the flows between lanes for the nodes. I'm now saying Battleborn is bad, i still enjoy it to this day. I'm approaching this from the side that clunky marketing, bad luck and a competitive window did not help the game at all.

I can't just leave my Toby <3

[PawpawTheCat]

People still play but not as many as before. I don't think this game is for everyone though. I love this game. I play it more than Overwatch honestly.