<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[GameUP24]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[https://gameup24.wordpress.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[William A.]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://gameup24.wordpress.com/author/louzwate/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[Battleborn Early Sales Exceeding First Borderlands, Dev&nbsp;Says]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<p>Gearbox Software&#8217;s new shooter <a href="http://ift.tt/1BrF203">Battleborn</a> is off to a solid start, it seems. Creative director Randy Varnell said during a recent<a href="http://ift.tt/1X0T1ER"> Twitch Kalology livestream </a>that sales of the game are &quot;tracking just ahead&quot; of the first <a href="http://ift.tt/1zAxidl">Borderlands</a> game back in 2009. Overall, Varnell said he is &quot;cautiously optimistic&quot; about Battleborn.</p>
<p>&quot;Ultimately, Borderlands [was an] extremely successful new game for us, and even Borderlands 1 went on to sell, I think, almost 7, 8 million units in its lifetime,&quot; he said, as reported by <a href="http://ift.tt/21W44Qp">VideoGamer.com</a>. &quot;Battleborn is actually tracking just ahead of where Borderlands was on the sales, and we think it&#8217;s going to be a game that is going to work like that. A decent, solid launch. We&#8217;re seeing steady and growing user counts on all three platforms, and hoping that word of mouth is going to take us even further.&quot;</p>
<p>Overall, Varnell said Battleborn&#8217;s launch was &quot;pretty good.&quot; After the rush of new users on launch day, May 3, the game has seen growth on a daily basis &quot;at a steady rate.&quot;</p>
<p>&quot;Hopefully, we&#8217;ll continue to see that go up,&quot; Varnell said.</p>
<p>The first Borderlands sold<a href="http://ift.tt/1X0T2sh"> 2 million copies in its first two months back in 2009</a>.</p>
<p>Battleborn<a href="http://ift.tt/1TEQY3U"> debuted at the top of the charts in the UK during its launch week</a>. However, it remains to be seen how well the game has sold in North America.</p>
<p>2K Games has not yet shared any official sales numbers, though we may learn more later this month when parent company Take-Two Interactive reports earnings on May 18.</p>
<p><a href="http://ift.tt/1WbCw6v">In February</a>, Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford said Battleborn represents the company&#8217;s &quot;biggest investment&quot; ever, calling the game a &quot;big bet.&quot;</p>
<p>&quot;We&#8217;ve invested more than Borderlands 1 and <a href="http://ift.tt/1EoDhU1">2</a> added together into Battleborn,&quot; he said at the time. &quot;And we don&#8217;t even know if people will be interested or not.&quot;</p>
<p>In other news about Battleborn, Gearbox said at PAX East this year that <a href="http://ift.tt/24e6Jqc">the game&#8217;s DLC will include references to Borderlands 3</a>.</p>
<p>For more on Battleborn, check out GameSpot&#8217;s video review above or<a href="http://ift.tt/1YdW7UJ"> written review here</a>.</p>
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<p><em>Source: <a style="text-decoration:none;" href="http://ift.tt/24NWVXQ">GameSpot</a></em></p>
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