Battleborn begins winding down, premium currency purchases ending in February

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Slowly, inexorably, the end is coming. But not for quite awhile yet.

Battleborn
(Image credit: Gearbox)

Two years ago, Gearbox halted development on its hero shooter Battleborn after it failed to catch on with audiences, even as a free-to-play game. Despite that dead end, the studio said at the time that it would keep the game running "for the foreseeable future," and to Gearbox's credit it's done exactly that. But the final end is now in sight—although it's still quite a long way off.

The good news is that Battleborn will continue to run for nearly a year after premium currency purchases are disabled, as the actual server shutdown won't take place until January 2021. Both in-game currencies, coins and Platinum, can be earned through gameplay and spent on whatever Battleborn stuff tickles your fancy.  In other words, you just won't be able to throw real money at it anymore.

We actually liked Battleborn quite a bit when it came out in 2016, but it very quickly turned into a bug on the windshield of Overwatch. It went free-to-play in 2017 (despite Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford's insistence that it wasn't actually free-to-play) which led to a brief, small bump in players, but within a couple of months the average concurrent player count was back down to double digits, and it's stayed there ever since. There are currently 15 people playing it, according to Steam Charts—a dedicated fan base, to be sure, but sadly not a viable one.

Andy Chalk
Andy Chalk
US News Lead

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.