When Gearbox revealed Brothers in Arms: Furious 4 to the gaming public at E3 2011, the game depicted a unique take on WWII-era shooters, featuring a muscle-bound machinegun-toting macho man by the name of Montana and his equally bizarre friends. If that sounds familiar, perhaps you're thinking of the muscle-bound, machinegun-toting macho man named Montana in Gearbox's upcoming co-op shooter, Battleborn. And no, the similarities aren't a coincidence. Speaking to IGN, Gearbox president Randy Pitchford confirmed that during development, Furious 4 had metamorphosed into Battleborn.
"Furious 4 is not a thing anymore, right?" Pitchford said at the Develop: Brighton conference. "Creative development is a trip. The idea that something that started as a Brothers in Arms game - through some absurd convolution - ended up as Battleborn is evidence of what’s possible."
Speculation on the transformation from Furious 4 to Battleborn has been rampant for some time now, and it's never been hard to deduce what had happened. You don't announce a four-player shooter game starring colorful characters, go quiet on the project, and then reveal another four-player shooter game starring colorful characters three years later without raising some eyebrows.
Despite these lingering suspicions, Pitchford's comments mark the first time Furious 4's fate has been outright confirmed. It is no more. But hey, Gearbox is looking for a new co-developer to help construct a new Brothers in Arms game, so not all hope for a new WWII shooter is lost.
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