Borderlands 4 dev urges Concord studio to back up work after losing theirs to Gearbox's hero shooter flop: "I regretted not getting it while I could"

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Lessons learned from Battleborn

Battleborn
(Image credit: 2K)

A Borderlands 4 lead has urged Concord developers to save their work before it's too late.

PlayStation's Concord and Gearbox Software's Battleborn have followed a weirdly similar trajectory of competing in the relatively small hero shooter arena only to end up going offline in Overwatch's shadow - though, Concord was only able to hold on for two weeks, sadly. 

News of Concord's imminent (maybe-temporary) shutdown reminded Borderlands 4's narrative director Sam Winkler of his experience saying goodbye to a game that he'd worked on for years, prompting him to offer some advice to the folks at Firewalk Studios.

"Anyone who worked on Concord (or any live service game) - get your work captured ASAP," Winkler tweeted just yesterday. "For a long time, I didn't have capture of my work on Battleborn - my first shipped content ever! - and I regretted not getting it while I could. Only got it eventually thanks to a fan mod."

You might remember Battleborn as the hero shooter that mixed in some MOBA flavor and some Borderlands-style gear to the formula, or you might just remember it as the game that was almost always doomed from the start based on its proximity to the first Overwatch's massively successful launch. 

Either way, the shooter came out in 2016, was removed from sale at the end of 2019, and didn't go offline until 2021, which is almost a lifetime compared to the grace failed live services get nowadays. In comparison, Concord's developers have until September 6 to save any footage from the game, at which point it'll go offline as the studio determines "the best path ahead."

Kaan Serin
Freelance contributor

Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that's vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he'll soon forget.