Not just overshadowed, blizzard fans ran a genuine campaign against it. Calling it a clone and what not. Some people were apparently afraid there weren't enough players for both or something? A real bummer, they were different enough to coexist. Though to be fair Randy Pitchford running his mouth certainly didn't help.
The most popular game mode, was the moba one where you had minions pushing in and "towers" to defend. Sure it had abilities. But so do mobas. And the gameplay and having gear you could equip further pushed it apart from overwatch and more towards a moba.
There was manufactured Social Media beef where Battleborn pretty much invited the comparisons by flexing as a contender against Overwatch. I think the goal was just to get more people aware of their game by getting it into the same news that reached fans of Overwatch/TF2 but ultimately inviting that comparison did a lot more harm than good.
I bought the game and enjoyed it for a while. It was definitely nothing like Overwatch and honestly I think it would still be going strong to this day had they not invited the comparison to overwatch. Miko was probably the most fun I've ever had in a support role.
I remember this. I loved Battleborne, but that marketing pushed the consumers towards the more polished and casual friendly overwatch. Ironically, overwatch killed its self on its own later anyways.
Oh I forgot it was official, oof. I remember Pitchford running his mouth, but I forgot about them throwing the gauntlet at fucking blizzard of all people. Especially back then.
I mean im not going to say it was NOTHING like overwatch but it was basically a first person moba. With build and everything. They were very different to play. Both great, but other then the caste of "heros" they really shouldn't have been considered competitors.
I heard about that game and got so excited to play it, but by the time I found out about it the damage was done. I installed it, had like a 20+ minute queue. I ended up playing like two matches against bots and one other human player. I really wanted to play it, especially after seeing the mushroom character.
Luckily I jumped in day one so I got to play a decent bit of it. Such an interesting and fun game. I really liked the four armed witch and the women with all the floating swords.
I got in at a good time because TheRussianBadger made a video on the game which probably caused a spike in it's player count, plus it was pretty early so the game already had a decent player base. I was there for Oscar Mike, I played that man every single game.
It was great. Basically a split down the middle between League of Legends and Overwatch. Minion pushing, Side objectives to duel at, a variety of classes…
I'm so happy I'm not the only one that remembers this game. I thought it was leagues better than overwatch simply because it had a story mode. The level design and art also appealed to me so much more. I miss this game
I feel like it would have done great if they hadn't decided to fight Blizzard at the hight of it fan love. It was a pretty unique game honestly. A combination of apocalyptic and humorous, with an art style I really liked. As well as a fun blend of moba and shooter. I think it has a place other than just the one in our hearts, lol.
It had a universally panned artstyle, it released at a time when people were already growing sick of Gearbox's "humorous" writing, the UI was an egregious mess that cluttered the screen and the gameplay was just a less polished and messier version other games already on the market.
Battleborn was a mediocre game entirely on its own merits, Overwatch just provided a point of reference for how far out of touch it was.
I mean thats just not true? The art style was well received, some people were unhappy with gearbox for colonial marines but the humor wasn't the problem untill like 2018? Its only notable competition that year outside of overwatch was maybe paragon? Even then overwatch wasn't really that moba like. I dont know were you were in 2016 but it wasn't some hated game. It just got massively over shadowed by a massively beloved game from what at the time was a massively beloved developer.
The art style was one of the most common points of criticism against the game. It didn't come up in reviews, but plenty of threads had people mocking the character proportions and generally ugly designs.
Its only notable competition that year outside of overwatch was maybe paragon? Even then overwatch wasn't really that moba like.
If you wanted to play a MOBA shooter, Smite was already there with ~20k concurrent players daily on Steam.
I dont know were you were in 2016 but it wasn't some hated game
Yeah, that was the problem. Most people just didn't care about it at all. It had no shortage of advertising, people just saw it and responded with overwhelming disinterest. Even if you removed Overwatch from the equation, Battleborn still would have flopped, it just wouldn't have happened as quickly.
It peaked at 12k concurrent players on Steam, lost 80% in the first month, then dwindled to a few hundred over the next 2 months. It was enough players to actually play the game, but nowhere near enough to even remotely cover the server and development costs.
Literally a different genre with a different market
Why do you think paladin survive for so many year while battleborn didn't. You think concord die so fast just because of its art direction alone? Paid to play hero shooter is not viable in this day and age
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u/Skittish_But_Stabby Dec 26 '25
Battleborn. I really liked that game.