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The video game industry is one of the most competitive industries out there. Aside from the fact that there is a limited number of ideas that can realistically be implemented with our current level of technology, the users usually dictate the wants and needs of the market, further limiting selection.
Plus, because of how the market works, games usually have to come out at certain dates in order to sell better. Because of all of these factors, developers are often forced to release very similar games very close to one another. This dampens the profits for both developers, as people generally pick one game instead of buying both –at least at first.
Battleborn
Apparently, ‘tis the season to launch shooters – competitive multiplayer first person shooters, to be more specific. Gearbox Software, the highly praised developers behind the critically acclaimed Borderlands series just launched their new title – Battleborn. Only out two days ago, the game might surprise you in how much it resembles another game soon to come out – Overwatch.
Very similar in nature, the two games differ mainly in the graphics department, with Blizzard going for something more realistic and Gearbox going for something more cell-shaded and cartoony. But Battleborn was launched first, so it might have a head start. Still, Overwatch is developed by Blizzard, so it might still win the competition.
Now, even though the games are very similar and are coming out in the same month, it doesn’t necessarily mean that one copied the other. No, it’s the market that dictates these things. Gaming companies usually have market analysts whose jobs are to determine what type of game would sell the most in each particular season. And apparently both Blizzard and Gearbox received similar information.
Quick changes
Even though it only came out a couple of days ago, Battleborn has already been subjected to a patch. But unlike most titles coming out these days, the patch wasn’t meant to fix issues that the developers were too cheap or lazy to fix. Instead, it is aimed at changing something according to customer feedback.
Players started complaining about the game’s prologue in one of two ways – either they wanted to be able to skip the thing entirely, or they wanted to replay it with different characters. So, Gearbox decided to satisfy both – you can now either skip or replay Battleborn prologue.
But that isn’t the end of the story – receiving complaints that one of the playable characters – the robotic sniper, Marquis – is too overpowered, the company decided to start nerfing the characters. The fix will come soon, bringing balance once more to the two-day-old game. Praise the Sun!
Image source: YouTube
