Border Break - AM2's 2010's Mega Success

SEGA in recent years has focused on providing their players the ability to enjoy the latest titles at the same time and date as other regions, to a degree that a worldwide simultaneous release is critical to their plans in the company's strategy, however, there are franchises that haven't crossed to the west. One of the biggest examples is AM2's Border Break.

Border Break is a third-person mech combat game with shooting gameplay, with some elements being a spiritual successor to the Virtua On franchise. The original title released in 2009, with it being updated several times throughout the 2010's, including Union in 2012, Scramble in 2015 and X in 2017. It would jump to console on PlayStation 4 in 2018. The game is 14 years old, and cemented itself as a major success story for the legacy studio. So, let's briefly go over Border Break, AM2's Japan Exclusive Mega Hit. 

Born Out Of Competition

Border Break origins date back to the development of Virtua Fighter 5. The shooter team that worked on Virtua Cop and Ghost Squad were envious of the fighting team, as they had their own desire to create a competitive party title where everyone could play together. The team began work on the game facing several challenges, with some major hurdles being the launch of a new IP and trying to have SEGA understand the desire to pursue Third-Person Shooter gameplay. Devs were playing Valve's Counter-Strike and EA's Battlefield games at the time, and wanted to make SEGA's own version, which helped them cement their choice to pursue TPS gameplay.

Another major choice was the visual style of the game. Early on, the team wanted to avoid direct human combat with blood, and wanted it to be welcoming to anyone, so the decision to use mechs was decided upon. This however was a gamble, as Japanese arcades were occupied with Mobile Suit Gundam Battlefield Bonds and Mobile Suit Gundam VS. Series games, so the hope was for the TPS gameplay would help separate itself from those type of titles. 

"Kisei Kushiki" Life Sized Statue at Border Break PS4 Release Ceremony

"So it was difficult to get the company's understanding. I was even asked, "What is TPS? Are you talking about RPG?" (laughs). It was ground-breaking for a Sega game at the time, and it was so fresh that it was hard to understand, so I remember having a hard time." Moriharu Aoki (Producer)

There was a chance to attach the title onto the Virtua-On series, an AM2 Mech Fighting series popular during the SEGA Saturn era, however the team decided to keep the IP original, since that series was 10 years old at the point, and there was momentum in the company to create an IP that is only for SEGA. Despite the enthusiasm during development, the team didn't expect it to last longer than 5 years. Yet upon the release in arcades on the 9th September 2009, it was clear AM2 hit big. By the end of September of that year, 2,346 Border Break arcade machines were sold, and hit nearly 3,000 by the end of the year.

Over A Decade Of Support

With Border Break cementing itself as a hit in Japanese arcades, SEGA made sure to capitalise on the success. The game would release to two new territories by 2010, finding itself in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Across a decade, the game would be given major updates with Border Break Union in 2012, Border Break Scramble in 2015, and Border Break X in 2017. It'd even include collaboration content, including the Like A Dragon / Yakuza series!

The average match would include two teams of ten robots fighting across different environments, which included towns, cities and facilities, aiming to achieve victory. Your way to victory is be destroying your enemy team's reactor core, marked in the colours of each team. By the end of a match, Class Points will be given to the player, increasing their rank. New Players will be given a series of co-op matches against bot players. When the newbie has earned enough class points and reached rank D4, then their able to play with real opponents. The arcade unit was built with the player standing, and two controls on the panel, with the left side having a joystick and the right having a mouse, with the screen touch-enabled.

Outside of the game, SEGA would use the IP for merchandise. There was several CD Soundtrack releases for each update, model kits featuring the game's mecha, walkthrough guides and even two novels, titled Border Break Nemesis Day (2012) and Border Break Historica (2014). The push in merchandise and the popularity of the game even led to the creation of an official manga in 2012. 

In 2013, Border Break would get a spin-off for mobile called Border Break Mobile. Developed by f4 Samurai Inc. and SEGA Networks, this free-to-play RPG based on the arcade title expanded the story of the game, being an opportunity to explore characters and lore that wasn't possible in the arcade game. The game would be available in 2013, and was regularly updated up until 2017. The game would later be removed from app stores in December 2018.

Eventually however, AM2 didn't want to risk the game being unplayable in the future, leading to an internal pitch in 2015, 6 years since the game launched, to port the game to PlayStation 4 as a way to preserve it in the future. SEGA greenlit the pitch and would release in 2018. This concern was validated, as the production of arcade units would end, due to the lack of manufacturers for the cabinets in Japan. It was stated that if that wasn't the case, the game would have been still sold to amusement centres as long as the player base was stable, however that wasn't the reality. 

Going into the 10th Anniversary of the IP, the only version staying supported was the PlayStation 4 version, and would remain so up until 2023, when service would end on 9th September. The game had one last livestream to close support of the game, featuring several members of the development team and voice cast.

The game throughout it's life was a major success for both SEGA and AM2. By 2012, the game grossed up to $100 Million, which is fantastic for a new IP, with it's everlasting popularity and support from it's player base birthing years of content and a port. It's bittersweet that such a beloved SEGA title never had the chance to land overseas, however, it easily earns it place in the storied history of AM2, and a sign that the studio still has it, after many years.

While the future of the IP is unclear, and most of AM2 refocused on Virtua Fighter, with REVO coming soon to PC, there is a hope that SEGA's modern day mecha title returns one day, and whenever that day comes, I'd love to be there. To cap of this blog post, here's the opening animation for Border Break's PlayStation 4 version, featuring Amazing Trees by the fantastic Hiroyuki Sawano.

Thank You for reading, enjoy the rest of your day.