A group of Battleborn players are trying to turn around the game's flagging fortunes by organizing a "Battleborn Day" event, set to take place this Saturday, November 12. The plan is to bring veteran players together en masse , and encourage newcomers to join in by showing them the ropes instead of stomping their guts out the moment they show their faces. The whole thing got started through a message posted on Reddit, but Gearbox liked the idea so much that it decided to join in and help.
"If we can get an event going for a day where we get as many players online to play as many games as they can, this will solve matchmaking issues and allow everyone to try the game," Redditor bkndx wrote last month. "As a community of high level elites we should recognize that if we get this going there's going to be a huge influx of newbs. We should be doing our best to not pubstomp and ruin their first impressions of the game so please, no double legendary loadouts. Experiment with new characters and try to keep away from the meta."
Shortly after that message went up, a Redditor by the name of jythri—which also happens to be the Twitter handle of Gearbox creative director Randy Varnell—replied, "You do something on this date on your side, and I'll see if I can do something from my side to sweeten the deal."
Turns out he was serious. "We’re so impressed and humbled by your dedication (even ISIC is beyond words)," Gearbox announced earlier this week. "As a thank you to the wonderful Battleborn Reddit folks and to show our love for this community, we’re 'flipping switches' to help make this event as epic as possible."
Thus, from 2 pm PT on November 11 to 8 am PT on November 13, Gearbox will offer the following:
- The badassest of badass in-game events: prepare for Lootpocalypse, Play with the Devs, Double XP, and Double Credits all rolled into one phenomenal weekend!
- A special “Battleborn Day Queue” with all kinds of fan-favorite maps and modes
- Try out all 29 Battleborn heroes! Every character will be temporarily unlocked for all players
- Enjoy 20 percent off all skins and taunts in the in-game Marketplace
- Swag giveaways on the Battleborn Facebook and Twitter channels
- AND MORE!
Gearbox also took some time to shine a light on the BattleBros, a group of veteran players dedicated to providing help and guidance for newbies that will also be taking part in the action.
"In preparation for November 12th, I will be organizing teams among my friends for the festivities and challenging them to some extremely serious no-fun-allowed matches!" Redditor Vahmose explained in a separate message. "For the majority of the event we will be surfing Versus Public to hopefully meet up with some of you. All BattleBros Helpers are welcome to do the same. If you would like to join one of our teams, just ask!"
It's great to see people getting behind a game they love like this, and even better that they're getting a push from the studio that made it. But a meaningful resurgence is hindered by one very big, obvious obstacle: Battleborn is still a full-priced game, selling for $60/£40 on Steam. That's a tough, tough sell for a game that's well-known to have faltered badly (the current Steam player count is just over 300, leaving it far outside the top 100), and the "trial version" teased in September still hasn't appeared. Battleborn Days may bring back some of the existing player base, but whether it will be able to expand interest beyond that is a whole different question.
Thanks, Eurogamer.
