It’s not just Shipbreakers’ name which changed when Gearbox shared their newly-acquired IP with its small developer, Blackbird Interactive. Gearbox’s investment means that the studio will no longer be releasing the game as a free-to-play title. It will instead be a full commercial release.
Gearbox’s CEO Randy Pitchford made the announcement himself.
@Giolon With our investment, Homeworld Shipbreakers can be a proper commercial release. No need for F2P.— Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) September 2, 2013
Free-to-play is starting to shake its reputation of ad-filled tat. League of Legends, World of Tanks, and Team Fortress 2 are just some examples which show you can make full-featured games that aren’t always poking you for money and they can still be profitable for developers. But sometimes it’s just nice to have a game come out and you just give the developer some money and you get the whole thing.
Shipbreakers looks excellent and I can’t wait till we can learn more about the project, particularly as the team can now grow and development can begin properly.