Ahh, Battleborn. You have been so sad. I actually like the character design and what little of the lore I’ve looked up, but not enough to shell out its initial price to play it. And that was, lamentably, a good decision; Battleborn’s playerbase eroded faster than a meth head’s teeth. Not helped by the fact that it launched around the same time as Overwatch and Not Overwatch Paladins, rumors circulated that it would go free to play.
Well, it turns out that those rumors are true, much to Randy Pitchford’s lament. Randy, however, seems to be a bit delusional, insisting that the game is still a retail experience, with DLC. Let’s go over the facts, shall we?
- You can currently download the game at no cost, and play with a smattering of restrictions, typical of F2P games (this is the most damning point I will likely make)
- Characters go on rotation, with only a handful available at a given time, with your character progress saved when they rotate out and back in
- Content can be earned and unlocked a la carte, though you can “Pay To Win”, just like with other F2P games
- Despite being labelled as a free trial, there is no cut off point as with a regular trial or demo. You can always access all of the content you unlock, and play with every other person playing the game.
About the only remaining distinction is that the full game remains available for purchase, allowing access to all heroes and a number of goodies. Still, considering the fact that Paladins has a similar deal ($20 to unlock all current and future heroes), the distinction may as well be non-existent. That all said, the change will definitely boost their playerbase, and if they follow the model set by other games with a steady stream of content, it’ll probably do much better than it did initially.
So you may as well grab the “Free Trial” and start playing.
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