The Battleborn open beta began on the PlayStation 4 last week, and today, it expands to include Xbox One and PC players. With 25 unique characters to choose from, a variety of competitive multiplayer modes, and a cooperative campaign, there’s a tremendous amount of content for fans to look forward to when the game releases in May. It is certainly earning its reputation as the most ambitious game Gearbox Software has ever developed.
Promoting the game since its announcement in 2014 has been strong, and designed to appeal to both Gearbox’s existing fan base and new ones. This is how Battleborn went from being a new, unknown IP to being the shooter for every kind of badass.
Becoming Badass
Still riding on the immense success of the Borderlands franchise, Gearbox and 2K Games announced Battleborn in July 2014 and generated huge interest by describing it as the developer’s most ambitious game to date. Not content with dropping a teaser trailer and leaving the game shrouded in mystery, Gearbox kept the momentum going in the fall with the reveal of a cooperative campaign, which was surely meant to appeal to Borderlands fans, but the announcement went a step further. There was an 18-minute gameplay video that demonstrated what the campaign would look like. Not only did this give audiences a first-look at what to expect from the game, but it let them know that the game was fairly far into its development. This sense of transparency would be seen throughout Battleborn’s promotion.
However, it wasn’t until about a year later that Battleborn‘s promotion campaign solidified its sense of identity. Some of the game’s story and gameplay elements were shown at E3 2015, and its trailer proclaimed that this was a shooter “for every kind of badass.” This set the tone for game, and paved the way for the competitive multiplayer features to be revealed in October at PlayStation’s Paris Games Week.
Bringing Fans To The Game
The annual San Diego Comic Con (SDCC) is a massive event where comic book and video game fans converge. Gearbox made the event extra special for at least two of the attendees with a contest. Two winners were flown out to San Diego, where they could attend the convention, completely geek out for four days, and play a lot of Battleborn.
More surprises were in store at the convention. Gearbox partnered with Nerdist to host a massive four-day laser tag event at Petco Park. The event was open to the public, so anyone could come in for some laser tag and Battleborn time and win prizes. Celebrities including Felicia Day, Wil Wheaton, Nathan Fillion, Alan Tudyk, and Daniel Radliffe made guest appearances.
The trip to SDCC was soon followed by another contest called the Battleborn Badass Vacation Giveaway. In it, two lucky winners were flown to Seattle to attend PAX Prime, complete with a four-night stay in a “swanky” hotel room. They also got special VIP access to the Battleborn demo, so they could play without having to wait on line, and got front-row seats at the Gearbox panel. As if that weren’t enough, the two winners also got some sweet swag to show off.
Fans Prove They’re Battleborn
2k announced the #IAmBattleborn contest in September last year, and it was a chance one fan to become immortalized in the game. Contestants were asked to submit a short video of themselves doing an original taunt for any of the revealed Battleborn characters. The winning taunt would be included in the game.
The only downside is, there’s a better than average chance the winner will eventually be taunted by his or her own taunt. But that’s the cost of immortality!
Battleborn‘s Big Splash At PlayStation Experience
Although Battleborn is releasing on multiple platforms, the game has had an especially close relationship with Sony. Gearbox Software CEO, Randy Pitchford, took to the stage during December’s PlayStation Experience’s keynote presentation to reveal Battleborn‘s 16th (out of 25) playable hero—a penguin named Toby. Although Toby might seem unassuming at first, he actually turns out to be an engineering genius with anger management issues, and he drives a powerful battle-mech.
Furthermore, Gearbox announced that the Battleborn open beta would come to PlayStation 4 players first. The PS4’s “Badass Weekend” began on April 8th, and participants will receive a special 26th hero when the game launches on May 3rd.
Post Launch Vision Revealed
Unlike how Borderlands post-launch content was generally kept a secret until they were revealed at special events like PAX East or E3, Gearbox has been pretty upfront with Battleborn. The developer detailed content plans in a blog post, which includes five new heroes that will be available for free, and what the cost of the of the premium packs will be. While Gearbox hinted at what the premium packs will include, it didn’t go into specific detail, so there’s still some mystery.
Furthermore, Gearbox views Battleborn‘s launch as similar to the start of a TV series. While that statement is in reference to how the game’s arching story spans eight episodes (and a prologue), which changes slightly according to the character you’re playing, there could be more to it. With a “TV-style story,” we could see the beginning of a number of cross-media opportunities for the game. In fact, Battleborn has already started telling stories from its expanded universe with motion comics that can be seen on the game’s official YouTube channel.
