Ex-2K Boss On What Went Wrong With Battleborn, Evolve, And Spec Ops: The Line

Ex-2K Boss On What Went Wrong With Battleborn, Evolve, And Spec Ops: The Line

As part of GameSpot's wide-ranging profile interview of game development veteran Christoph Hartmann, who now heads up Amazon Games, the former president of 2K Games shared some stories about his career missteps. These included games like Evolve, Battleborn, and Spec Ops: The Line not living up to expectations, for one reason or another.

Hartmann told GameSpot that, later in his career, he made safer and more conventional decisions, driven in part by pressure to deliver, and they didn't all work out.

"Life gets more complicated when you get older; it's all great when you're in the 'building' mode where everything is an opportunity. And then you build a company that is much bigger than you expected you ever would build. You know what kicks in? 'I could screw it all up.' And then you start making bad decisions," he said.

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2K Teases "Exciting New Franchise" For Reveal This Month

2K Teases "Exciting New Franchise" For Reveal This Month

2K Games, the publisher of titles like Borderlands, BioShock, NBA 2K, and more, will announce--or at least share more details on--an "exciting" upcoming title that apparently hasn't been announced yet.

As part of parent company Take-Two's latest earnings release, management announced that whatever this project is, it'll be reveal this month. "Later this month, 2K will unveil details of another exciting new franchise planned for launch during this fiscal year," the company said.

As TheGamer reminds us, this will be 2K's first new franchise since 2016's Battleborn.

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Overwatch's Lead Writer Is Working On New Project For 2K Games

Overwatch's Lead Writer Is Working On New Project For 2K Games

Battleborn may not have been a success for 2K Games--the game's servers were shut down for good just days ago--but the publisher hasn't given up on action-focused multiplayer games. One of the writers of Overwatch is now working with 2K Games on a project that sounds like it could be an Overwatch rival.

Spotted by IGN and Twitter user MauroNL, the new 2K Games studio 31^st Union, which is co-helmed by ex-Dead Space and Call of Duty developer Michael Condrey, has Overwatch lead writer Michael Chu on board as the narrative lead. Chu has also worked on Grounded, Diablo, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2, among other games, and will hopefully get to write more actual story for this game instead of the backstories and dialogue we mostly got in Overwatch.

The studio hasn't officially announced its game, but we do know that it will be a "multiplayer character-action game" based on job openings. Does that mean it will be similar to Overwatch? Possibly, especially with the first-person shooter experience that Condrey brings to the table. However, "character-action" is also a term used to describe games like Bayonetta and Devil May Cry, so the game could take a completely different approach.

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Battleborn Goes Offline For Good Today

Battleborn Goes Offline For Good Today

Rest in peace, Battleborn--we hardly knew you ... or played you. Gearbox Software's hero shooter is going offline today for good, rendering the game unplayable more than four years after its launch.

The writing has been on the wall for quite a long time now, with digital currency being removed from sale and the game already being pulled off digital stores. However, up until today, players who were still interested in Battleborn could play the game normally. That's over, with not only peer-to-peer multiplayer matches being unplayable, but also the single-player campaign.

Battleborn's fate was sealed almost immediately, as it launched at nearly the exact same time as Blizzard's Overwatch. The two games are quite similar, with heroes sporting a variety of unique moves and weapons, but it was Blizzard's game that caught on. The price of Battleborn quickly fell, and Gearbox shifted, well, gears, to other games like Borderlands 3. That was a much more successful project for the studio, releasing on everything from Xbox One to Google Stadia and receiving several DLC packs.

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Ninja Theory Drops Bleeding Edge To Focus On Hellblade 2 And Other Projects

Ninja Theory Drops Bleeding Edge To Focus On Hellblade 2 And Other Projects

Bleeding Edge, the Microsoft-exclusive online brawler that combined elements of Battleborn and Overwatch into an over-the-top multiplayer action game, will no longer receive updates.

Developer Ninja Theory took to Twitter to deliver the news, saying it's "now focusing on our new projects." This includes the mysterious Project: Mara, the research-focused The Insight Project, and the highly anticipated Microsoft-exclusive Senua's Saga: Hellblade II. As a result, Bleeding Edge won't get any new content, such as maps, characters, or modes.

While it won't receive any more updates, Ninja Theory said Bleeding Edge will still be playable on PC and Xbox consoles, signifying that the servers will remain online for the time being.

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Battleborn Dev Reflects On Impending Server Shutdown -- "I'm Really Heartbroken"

Battleborn Dev Reflects On Impending Server Shutdown -- "I'm Really Heartbroken"

Borderlands developer Gearbox's 2016 shooter Battleborn is shutting down soon, with servers scheduled to go offline on January 25. Battleborn is an online-only game, so the title will be completely unplayable after the servers go dark. One developer who worked on the game, Aaron Linde, has now written an impassioned statement about what the game meant to them and more.

"Battleborn's servers are going dark in just a few weeks. When they do, it'll be like the game never existed at all. All the work and love and blood that went into that game will disappear with it and I'm really heartbroken about it," Linde said on Twitter.

Linde went on to say, "I'm grateful for every person that ever told me that the game meant something to them. For every line I had repeated back to me. I hope something of it lives on in your memories like it will in mine (and in the pile of VO that I keep backed up in three different places)."

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Battleborn Is Shutting Down And Will Be Completely Unplayable