Gearbox won't update Battleborn after this autumn, it's said.

With all hands on deck for the next Borderlands, there is no planned content for Battleborn after the fall update, creative director Randy Varnell said in a post on the Gearbox website.

Battleborn came out in May 2016, which means Gearbox will have stuck with the embattled shooter for a year-and-a-half.

The servers will be up and active "for the foreseeable future", Varnell added, which means Battleborn will remain playable. But for how long? "Battleborn is here to stay," Varnell stressed.

Battleborn struggled after running up against similar hero-based multiplayer shooter Overwatch, with low player counts across PC and console.

Gearbox stuck with the game in the short term, announcing a raft of balance patches and content updates. But the audience for the game failed to grow, despite the best efforts of it small but loyal player-base.

In June, Gearbox launched a free trial that made Battleborn free-to-play in a last ditch attempt to rekindle interest in the game. It's now clear that attempt failed.

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All eyes now turn to Borderlands 3, which has yet to be officially announced but which everyone knows is Gearbox's next major title.

"Although I'm sad my time on Battleborn is coming to a close, I'm happy to announce that I will play a significant role on this highly anticipated but unannounced game, and I'm sure you'll be hearing some from me again in the future regarding Gearbox games," Varnell said.