'Battleborn' On Schedule For May Release, Gearbox Reveals Future Content Plans

Yesterday, Randy Pitchford, Gearbox Software’s President & CEO, revealed that Battleborn has “Gone Gold” (an old term that denotes a game is ready for retail.) Now that Battleborn is ready to ship, Gearbox Software has started to talk about the future DLC content that will be released for the game. The company announced that content will be released in stages, and that there will be a number of free updates, followed by paid DLC content.

Gearbox said that there will be five new playable characters added to the game, free of charge, bringing the total to 30 heroes. The first of these heroes will be Alani, “a member of the Eldrid faction who was raised as a healer, but forced to be a warrior.” Gearbox said Alani can manipulate water for her attacks, and she can heal other characters. The company has not revealed when Alani will be released, but said that will be revealed closer to the release of the game.

Gearbox said other free updates will include “competitive multiplayer modes, maps, balance updates and community features.”

“When gamers throw down their hard earned cash they want that experience to last. This is why it’s very important to us that we deliver more than $60 worth of content at launch and continue to add more value in the form of free heroes, maps, modes, and other features post-launch,” read the blog post.

Gearbox will also be launching a series of scheduled paid DLC packs. The future download content will be similar to Borderlands DLC, which is to say that these will be side missions. Gearbox said there will be five add-on packs, which will be released one-by-one. Gearbox said that each pack will include one “Story Operation” and hero skins that will be available only with the DLC.

Individual add-on packs will be available for $4.99. An optional season pass will be available for $19.99 that will save you $5. Gearbox is also offering a Digital Deluxe Edition of Battleborn for $74.99 that includes the season pass and some “bonus cosmetic customizations.”

Gearbox noted that all of the extra content, free and paid, will be available for Battleborn on all platforms.

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 Kevin Carbotte is a contributing writer for Tom's Hardware who primarily covers VR and AR hardware. He has been writing for us for more than four years.