The Gearbox Software website follows  the news that Battleborn is gold with details on Gearbox's plans to support the multiplayer shooter once it's released. Gold has become a more nebulous term in the post-disc era, so this roadmap includes plans for open beta testing, which they say will begin soon. They also discuss plans to release new characters for free and to make frequent balance updates, indicating they will both lead and follow the community in shaping the future of the game. The update is too lengthy to reproduce in its entirety, so here's an excerpt:

Ultimately, we have big plans for Battleborn. The launch of the game is just the beginning! Battleborn has already become a regular gaming hobby for us at both Gearbox and 2K. It’s our ambition that Battleborn will become a favorite game for you, too! We know that Battleborn’s value over time really depends on our commitment and investment in the Battleborn community as it grows and evolves. As the Battleborn gaming hobby becomes our focus post-launch, we have a couple of core principles that will guide us as we reach that objective:

1.Battleborn is a full-featured, AAA video game. As such, solo players, cooperative players (including couch co-op) and competitive players are all each very important to the Battleborn community and shall all be supported by developers who are themselves passionate about each of these styles of play

2.Post-launch support will be robust and will allow for regular balance adjustments and regular, free new content to be added that is designed to enhance and enrich the game and the community. Gearbox Software will adapt with the Battleborn community over time in support of the game, sometimes leading and sometimes being led by the community of players.

Once the game is live, we’ll be able to collect feedback from you, the players, on how to make the game better. We’ll learn what you like playing and what you want more of. We’ll discover how you play the game and be able to deliver more of what makes the game fun and challenging. And we will remain focused on keeping the game balanced for all players, because for us balancing isn’t an event, it’s a discipline.

This process will start before Battleborn even launches as we deploy an open beta soon. The open beta will be helpful for stressing our still in-beta backend services while also generating more player minutes than we could ever possibly hope to have with internal testing that will help to improve the quality, balance and polish of the game in updates that are ready on-time for the game’s official retail launch.