Battleborn has a lot of hopes and expectations riding with it. While the game is a brand new IP, it comes from Borderlands developer Gearbox Software. This raises the standards for the games, both in terms of quality, and sales. Now that the game is out, people are beginning to look back at the launch and ask questions about sales, and engagement from the community. Gearbox is doing this themselves, and took some time to share details with the world.
we’re seeing steady growth in user counts on all three platforms
During a Twitch livestream on the Kalology channel, Battleborn Creative Director Randy Varnell was asked how they feel about the game, post-launch. He responded “Cautiously optimistic, I think is the way to say it. The launch has been pretty good. We’re actually, if you compare it, we do a lot of comparisons back to the first Borderlands, back in 2009, and that launch felt a lot similar for us.
“It ultimately was an extremely successful new game for us. And Borderlands 1 went on to sell, I think it was seven-eight million units in its lifetime. Battleborn is actually tracking just ahead of where Borderlands was on the sales. We think it’s gonna be a game that works like that. A decent, solid launch, we’re seeing steady growth in user counts on all three platforms. And we’re hoping that word of mouth is gonna take us even further.”
It’s definite good news, as a new IP is always a massive risk for any game developer. However, with Gearbox games having grown a massive in-built audience since the first Borderlands, it might be a bit disappointing that they aren’t seeing those massive sales just yet. Still, this is a new franchise, so fans have to come to it in their own time.
We certainly enjoyed our time with the game, though it was not a perfect FPS/MOBA mashup. Our review stated “Battleborn is a well-oiled machine with the potential for some great times to be had, but sometimes getting to those great times can take some patience.” Hopefully with more work done via patches (which are discuss in the rest of the Twitch stream), the game will really become a juggernaut.
