@Giolon With our investment, Homeworld Shipbreakers can be a proper commercial release. No need for F2P.— Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) September 2, 2013

Gearbox honcho Randy Pitchford says that his studio's involvement means that Homeworld: Shipbreakers no longer has to be a free-to-play game.

Gearbox announced last week that it's hooked up with Blackbird Interactive, the studio founded by former members of Relic, to assist with the development of the Homeworld-esque game Hardware: Shipbreakers. It's a significant move because Gearbox picked up the rights to Homeworld in April, allowing it to turn the "spiritual successor" into a full-on sequel.

Good news for fans of the franchise, yes, but simply slapping the Homeworld name on it doesn't change the fact that Hardware was intended to be a free-to-play multiplayer RTS, not necessarily the kind of follow-up people were looking for. But there's more to Gearbox's involvement than just a new name.

"With our investment, Homeworld Shipbreakers can be a proper commercial release," Pitchford tweeted last week. "No need for F2P."

It's kind of odd that Pitchford tweeted about this a full week ago and it's only just getting mainstream notice now, but hey, better late than never - and very good news indeed. I'm suddenly a lot more interested in this sequel than I was yesterday.

Source: Twitter