Is Gearbox’s Battleborn going free-to-play in some way?

If you've been following the latest developments from the shooter/MOBA scene, then you're surely aware of three major names: Overwatch from Blizzard, Paladins: Champions of the Realm from Hi-Rez Studios and Battleborn from Gearbox. The two first games have been on the receiving end of some acclaim, despite a bit of controversy regarding exaggerated similarities. As for Battleborne, despite some quality, it failed to make an impression.

Now, there's some rumors about Battleborn going free-to-play, according to what an anonymous source told Kotaku. The success of Evolve's move to free-to-play is considered as one of the inspirations for this decision. The announcement should be coming this November.

One interesting piece of info is that Gearbox wanted to make Battleborn free-to-play right from the start, but publisher 2K was against it and preferred to sell the game full-price. You know the rest – Battleborn was a commercial flop, with all attention turning to Overwatch.

Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford has reacted to this story and denied that Battleborn is moving to free-to-play, instead mentioning a “trial version of the game that would be free and from which retail can be purchased along with DLC.” It's not a timed demo, so we could speculate that part of the game is accessible for free – maybe the multiplayer – and the rest, such as story and some heroes, has to be purchased.

We'll return to this as soon as we have an update.