Retailers Discount Battleborn as Overwatch Prepares to Launch

Numerous retailers, including Amazon and GameStop, are now selling Borderlands developer Gearbox Software's new shooter Battleborn for only $40, Kotaku discovered. The price drop comes less than a month after the game arrived on May 3.

The timing is also interesting in that today, May 23, is the day when Blizzard's own hero-based shooter Overwatch goes on sale ahead of the 4 PM PST / 7 PM EST server launch.

Battleborn is off to an "encouraging" start, according to 2K Games parent company Take-Two Interactive. However, it is too soon to say if the game will enjoy a similar sales curve as Borderlands, CEO Strauss Zelnick said on an earnings call recently.

The first Borderlands sold 2 million copies in its first two months back in 2009, and went on to sell 7 or 8 million copies in its lifetime, according to creative director Randy Varnell. Multiple sequels were released, and Borderlands is now one of 2K's biggest properties.

A third mainline game is now in development. Battleborn's upcoming DLC will include Easter eggs that reference the game.

Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford said in February that Battleborn represents the developer's "biggest investment" ever. At the time, Pitchford added that when other similar-looking games like Overwatch and LawBreakers started showing up, Gearbox knew it was onto something.

"First, there's some competition, which is a fun challenge," he said. "But also, wow, those guys are really smart, too and they think there's something here. Maybe we're not crazy after all; maybe there's a customer for this game."

As for Overwatch, if the game's highly successful beta is any indication, it could become a top-seller for Blizzard. The open beta, which ran May 5-9, attracted nearly 10 million players, eclipsing the beta player numbers for games like Star Wars: Battlefront and Destiny.

For more on these two games, check out GameSpot's Battleborn review and all of our previous Overwatch coverage.