Why is Activision-Blizzard so afraid of Battleborn?

[Kauko]

Sry, but why not? They would be stupid to take it easy...

[Eleccybubb]

There is a major difference between being "afraid" and releasing something on or near the same day for competition. FF14 for example released it's expac literally a day after 6.2 on wow for the sake of competition.

[Life-Binder]

Oh? Is this how we're explaining away Blizzard's failures now?

I can see it already; 6 months from now: "Keeping in mind, OW was never meant to become on par with TF2 or Battleborn."

When Blizzard loses it's because they meant to, got it.

nice try


and Battleborn is in fact of a different genre then OW

but even if it wasnt - it wont come within a lightyear of OW


frankly at 60$ + DLC they should be happy with any sales they get

[Thundermoose]

I don't even think they need to, but I understand why they do it anyway. The marketing of Battleborn has been pretty subpar, which is pretty sad as I think it looks like a good game. I was personally meh about it for a long time, but finally decided to look into some gameplay and it looks more like something I'd like than Overwatch.

[Darkeon]

I don't think it's "Fear", per se. It's a simple business move.

[LostAlgorithm]

frankly at 60$ + DLC they should be happy with any sales they get

I'm surprised people are willing to pay $40 for as bare-bones of a game as Overwatch is. Sure, it has a lot of Blizzard polish, but content-wise it's...pretty lacking. I think a good deal of the price is simply because it's a Blizzard game. If another company had come out with Overwatch, even developed to the same standards that it has been so far, I bet it'd be cheaper.

[Eleccybubb]

I'm surprised people are willing to pay $40 for as bare-bones of a game as Overwatch is. Sure, it has a lot of Blizzard polish, but content-wise it's...pretty lacking. I think a good deal of the price is simply because it's a Blizzard game. If another company had come out with Overwatch, even developed to the same standards that it has been so far, I bet it'd be cheaper.

So you have played the beta then and can tell us what is in it?

[Deleted]

TF2 is a bigger competitor to Overwatch gameplay wise.

TF2 is old and shit, that's like saying Quake is the biggest competitor to Counterstrike.

[Flatspriest]

OP, you are like the second person I've seen mention this Battleborn. WTF is it, and how come nobody has really heard of it before the past couple of days???

[LostAlgorithm]

So you have played the beta then and can tell us what is in it?

I played open betas for both Overwatch and Battleborn, and have followed coverage for both games fairly extensively. It's not like either is very secretive. I do know though that after a few hours of playing Overwatch myself it felt a lot like "Press Q to Win" and that there wasn't going to be much variety in gameplay. I felt the exact same feelings toward it as I did TF2 - a fun game for maybe an hour or two, but not one I feel any real connection with.

[DeadmanWalking]

Every ability in Battleborn can be customized as you level up to change their purpose and your resulting gameplay choices significantly. Abilities in Overwatch are static and the same every round for every character.

I've played both games, you are exaggerating the build talents changing the gameplay. Yes, you hit harder it faster but that just means they took that shit away and you have to earn it back. Rarely do any abilities change the game play enough to be noticeable. But you want to push BB so go ahead and exaggerate, what ever fits the story you are telling.

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OP, you are like the second person I've seen mention this Battleborn. WTF is it, and how come nobody has really heard of it before the past couple of days???

It's been commercialized all over TV and had a free beta weekend on steam. Just because you were not paying attention doesn't mean that nobody else was.

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The two games are not even the same type of game, one is a fps moba/multiplayer story game and the other is fps battle arena. Bb is also shitty at being a moba. Overwatch doesn't have minions, resources or mini-bosses.

[Eleccybubb]

I played open betas for both Overwatch and Battleborn, and have followed coverage for both games fairly extensively. It's not like either is very secretive. I do know though that after a few hours of playing Overwatch myself it felt a lot like "Press Q to Win" and that there wasn't going to be much variety in gameplay. I felt the exact same feelings toward it as I did TF2 - a fun game for maybe an hour or two, but not one I feel any real connection with.

Overwatch hasn't had an open beta yet.

[Deleted]

ITT: blizzard fanboys showing they are proud of playing only blizzard games while not knowing anything else.

[Breccia]

Battleborn, at least by its public image, is close enough to Overwatch to steal some of their market share. From my own tests of both Betas, Battleborn is a more fun game, so their fear has merit. Personal opinion of course.

[LostAlgorithm]

I've played both games, you are exaggerating the build talents changing the gameplay. Yes, you hit harder it faster but that just means they took that shit away and you have to earn it back. Rarely do any abilities change the game play enough to be noticeable. But you want to push BB so go ahead and exaggerate, what ever fits the story you are telling.

I went down different trees with one character I played between two games and it did feel quite different to me. Even just with Thorn, the difference between having an AOE that slows or arrows that pierce through enemies was enough to change how I played. And that's just one of 10 choices I had to make during that game.

It's certainly more than just "harder or faster", and it's then further augmented by the gear that you take into each game, which is further complicated by if you should spend your money on buildables to help your team or on your gear to help yourself. Overall, I just found a lot more depth in Battleborn's gameplay mechanics.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

They're not really so much afraid, just trying to be competitive with the rest of the industry at best is what they do. I don't care for Battleborn.

I'd rather see resources put into the next Borderlands game.

[LostAlgorithm]

Overwatch hasn't had an open beta yet.

You know what I mean. The weekend beta.

[Eleccybubb]

You know what I mean. The weekend open beta.

They aren't open. They are closed stress weekends. Try again. You are right on the money with Battleborn though even I played the open beta and found it interesting.

[DeadmanWalking]

TF2 is old and shit, that's like saying Quake is the biggest competitor to Counterstrike.

This is the most bullshit hipster thing to say, who cares if it is like another game as long as you have fun playing it. If you can't play a game because it is like something else then you are going to have a hard time finding games to play. Can't play overwatch because it is like tf2, which is based on TF, which is based on doom which is like wolfenstein and duke nukem, hell now you can't play any first person shooters.

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I went down different trees with one character I played between two games and it did feel quite different to me. Even just with Thorn, the difference between having an AOE that slows or arrows that pierce through enemies was enough to change how I played. And that's just one of 10 choices I had to make during that game.

It's certainly more than just "harder or faster", and it's then further augmented by the gear that you take into each game, which is further complicated by if you should spend your money on buildables to help your team or on your gear to help yourself. Overall, I just found a lot more depth in Battleborn's gameplay mechanics.

It's a minor difference no matter how you feel about it. It's not like it changes your role from damage to tank or healer.

[LostAlgorithm]

They aren't open. They are closed stress weekends. Try again. You are right on the money with Battleborn though even I played the open beta and found it interesting.

I may have been wrong in calling it open, but it felt open as a lot of the people I knew were able to get in.