Battleborn

Yesterday, Battleborn's servers were officially brought offline, bringing an end to the hero-shooter/MOBA hybrid, four-plus years after its initial 2016 release.

Gearbox has announced in a new post by Creative Director Randy Varnell on the Battleborn site that active development has ended and that he is moving off to a new project. It will not close, but simply go into "maintenance mode". The final update will be deployed in the near future. Afterward, a small team will address emergency bugs and keeping servers in shape.

While technically not free to play in the strictest sense, Battleborn now sports a free "unlimited competitive multiplayer" experience for all versions of the game. Players can take part on all game play modes and maps with no time limits or level caps. The number of available heroes is limited to a rotation of six per week. Progress and progression is permanent as well.

The latest Battleborn Battleplan has been published. It gives a brief look at what the last patches have addressed as well as shining the spotlight on the community. Most notably, however, is the announcement that a new game mode is coming called Gravity Rumble. As the name suggests, gravity is decreased and movement increased, both of which should literally change the playing field.

The latest Battleborn Battleplan has been published on the official site. In it, the winning team in a recent competitive $10,000 tournament is interviewed, some community spotlights shine and PAX East plans are revealed.

Gearbox and 2K will be updating Battleborn today. Starting at 12:00 pm Pacific / 3:00 pm Eastern, players will be able to check out new story content with Phoebe and the Heart of Ekkunar. Players will travel alongside Phoebe through Ekkunar to "find the place beyond the portals".

2k and Gearbox have revealed the release date for the next Battleborn DLC, called Phoebe and the Heart of Ekkunar. On Thursday, February 23rd, all regions will be able to engage in new content.

Battleborn will be receiving a massive patch later today across all platforms. The Winter Update weighs in at 13Gb for PlayStation 4, 15Gb for PC and 18Gb for XBox One and includes the overhauled new player experience, command rank increases, , the reworked UI, new training missions, returning player enhancements, early access to the new hero, Beatrix (she will launch for all players on January 26th), DLC Story Operation 3 and much more.

The Battleborn site has been updated with the news that the Winter Update will be deployed on January 19th. The Winter Update will bring the new Training and Draft Modes on board as well as several newly overhauled systems including the UI and an updated economic system. A new hero, Beatrix, will also be available for Early Access on that date, with her final arrival for everyone on January 26th.

The Battleborn site has been updated with a new developer blog to detail the progress being made towards the Winter Update that will bring a number of changes into the game. Among the altered systems detailed in today's post are the core character unlock system, character select changes, and draft modes.

The Battleborn team has announced that a huge Winter Update is coming soon that will see significant changes for both new players and old hands alike. New players will find all twenty five characters unlocked after finishing the game's prologue and unlock challenges will now grant a new skin.

Battleborn has expanded again with the release of Toby's Friendship Raid, the game's second DLC Story Operation. Toby's Friendship Raid sees players teaming up to fight through the LLC manufacturing facilities to restore Toby's mech suit. Players can earn new skins, taunts and even a chance to unlock Faction COmmander Packs.

The Battleborn fan community has taken charge to get others excited by the game by creating "Battleborn Day" slated for Saturday, November 12th. Players are hoping to encourage everyone to log in that day and "get in on the fight". A group called Battlebros has also cropped up, sort of a "Big Brother program for Battleborn" that will work with other players to provide training or advice to those who could use a bit of a hand.

The twenty-ninth hero in Battleborn has entered the fray as of this week. Season Pass and Digital Deluxe holders can access Kid Ultra immediately, while all others can purchase her for 47,500 game credits starting November 3rd. Kid Ultra uses drones, rockets and other robotics to bring a world of hurt to enemies. You can check Kid Ultra out in her skills overview trailer or head to the Battleborn site to learn more.

2K isn't giving up on Battleborn and is ready to unleash a large new update today that, as expected, will include skins and taunts, but that will also feature a new PvP 5v5 mode called Face Off and, most significantly, a new story mode called Attikus and the Thrall Rebellion. The PvP mode is free for all players while the story operation is $5 or comes as part of the Battleborn season pass.