In 2016, Gearbox Software took a gamble. Instead of immediately moving forward with the highly-anticipatedBorderlands 3, it instead decided to pursue a new IP in the form of the FPS/MOBA hybridBattleborn. Unfortunately for Gearbox, theBattleborngamble didn’t pay off like it hoped, and the game quickly faded into obscurity. And now, roughly five years since the game’s original release, theBattlebornservers have been officially shut down.
The officialBattlebornTwitter account confirmed as much on Twitter, making the announcement to anyBattlebornstragglers that the servers have been deactivated. And sinceBattlebornrequired an online connection, this means the game has been rendered unplayable. The tweet stated that the developers are proud of the work that was done onBattleborn, and it concluded by thanking the game’s community.
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Even thoughBattlebornwasn’t all that popular, it’s still disappointing whenever a game like this is shut down, as it makes its content completely inaccessible to those who already invested in it and those who may stumble on it in the future. But on the bright side, at least those playingBattlebornwere given plenty of advanced warning that the game’s server shut down was looming in the distance.
Fans werefirst informed of theBattlebornserver shut down in November of 2019, giving them a little over a year to play the game as much as they want, unlocking any achievements they may still need or accomplish whatever else. This is in stark contrast to other games, which are shut down out of nowhere or give players very short notice about their demise. Considering how longBattlebornplayers knew about the server shut down in advance, hopefully everyone that wanted to play it has done so.
While theBattlebornserver shut down is no doubt disappointing to any fans who were still playing the game regularly, it also has to be hard for the developers who put in the work to bring the game to life.OneBattlebornwriter has already expressed their heartbreakat the game’s servers being shut down, and one has to imagine that other people who worked on the project are similarly disappointed about the situation.
TheBattlebornservers being shut down isn’t the first time an online-only game was rendered unplayable, and it certainly won’t be the last. Hopefully futureonline game shut downstake note of howBattlebornhandled it and give fans plenty of notice in advance so anyone interested can play while they still can.
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