Straight from the Pitchford’s mouth, it’s now been confirmed that the missing Brothers in Arms game, Furious 4, had indeed been absorbed and tranformed into the very very similar game, Battleborn.
We have closure. Perhaps now we may finally grieve.
It had long been suspected that Gearbox’s long-cancelled, four-way, cartoonish co-op shooter had simply dropped its Brothers in Arms moniker and renamed itself Battleborn.
This was evidenced, largely, by the inclusion of one of Furious 4’s main characters in Battleborn. I’m no detective, but that’s fairly conclusive.
In an interview with IGN, president Randy Pitchford explained that this change in development was precisely what led to the disappearance of Furious 4. “[It’s] not a thing anymore”, said Pitchford, clarifying earlier notions that the game had evolved into “something else”, by making it quite clear that the “something else” is Battleborn.
Here’s the Furious 4 reveal trailer. The game was essentially an Inglorious Basterds co-op FPS, the levity and comical tone of which would (only later) lead Gearbox to remove the inappropriate association with its more reverent and historical Brothers in Arms franchise.
So that’s where Furious 4 went.
Thanks IGN.