Battleborn to go free to play soon says a source – Pitchford denies rumours

Battleborn had a terrible release window, it appeared right around the same time as Overwatch. It’s struggled ever since.

With player numbers dropping off dramatically, Gearbox must be disappointed with Battleborn‘s performance. Blizzard, on the other hand, has been raking it in.

There’s been speculation as to whether Gearbox would bite the bullet and adopt a free to play model and that could be happening according to a tip-off. According to an anonymous source who contacted Kotaku, Gearbox apparently always wanted to make the game free to play but 2K wanted a full priced product.

The game has been discounted numerous times since its launch in May and some gamers took advantage of the discount. However, the player numbers are currently at an all-time low according to SteamSpy numbers.

2K has had some success with a relaunch of Evolve and it looks like Battleborn will be getting the same treatment. The source has said that a free to play version of Battleborn could be released as soon as mid-November.

Gearbox’ Randy Pitchford has weighed in denying the rumours shortly after the comments appeared.

I was just told about a reckless story about Battleborn going F2P that is false. There are no plans to convert Battleborn free to play.

— Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) September 29, 2016

We have some unannounced plans to do a trial version of the game that would be free and from which retail can be purchased along with DLC.

— Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) September 29, 2016