Update: Borderlands 3 has officially been announced!!!
“Is Borderlands 3 in Development ?” or “Is Borderlands 3 Confirmed?” or “are they making a Borderlands 3?” These are the questions that a lot of Borderlands fans have been asking for some time now. Everyone is wondering about the next Borderlands game and if it’s coming soon. Borderlands 3 isn’t officially announced and the marketing department will just say “a game doesn’t exist until it is officially announced”. However, we do have some (not so) subtle hints to go on. So come with me and let’s piece all the puzzle pieces together as these tiny bits of information indicate the existence of a future Borderlands game.
Table of contents
- Assembling the Next Borderlands Team
- Next-Gen Borderlands
- Working on Borderlands 3
- Borderlands 4 the search for 3
- Borderlands Easter Eggs in Battleborn
- Borderlands Tech Demo
- Working on the Big Announcement
- Borderlands 3 Development
- Fiscal 2019 / 2020
- Hints flying over the web
- Borderlands 3 Release Date / Window
Assembling the Next Borderlands Team
Back in 2015 Gearbox Software had various panels at Pax South where they also talked about the Past, Present, & Future of Borderlands. During the main panel Gearbox President, Randy Pitchford, mentions that they are not working on the next Borderlands game. However, they want to but they need more staff members to make it happen. So Randy put the call out that they are hiring people to make the next big one. Referring to the game as the “Big One” suggest that it isn’t a spin-off or a Pre-Sequel.
Next-Gen Borderlands
In Take-Two’s financial report of 2015 the Director of 2K Games, Karl Slatoff, mentioned that they are working with Gearbox Software to create a new Borderlands game for the next generation of consoles.
Working on Borderlands 3
David Eddings who was the Vice President of Gearbox Software mentions that they are working on Borderlands 3. Because David is also the voice actor of Claptrap he was attending a panel at Indy PopCon! when he spilled the beans.
Obviously, there is going to be another Borderlands, a Borderlands 3 but before cautioning, we don’t even know if we’re going to call it that. – Randy Pitchford
Borderlands 4 the search for 3
During the Pax South Panel in 2016, we learned that the Art director of Battleborn is now the Art director of Borderlands 3. However, Gearbox President, Randy Pitchford, did mention that they are not sure if they are going to call it Borderlands 3. Which resulted in the title; “Borderlands 4 the search for 3” and “#4derlands”. Also during this panel, we learned that Mikey Neumann would take on the role of lead writer and that Scooter may or may not have a son.
Borderlands Easter Eggs in Battleborn
Gearbox also mentioned during the panel that they were going to add some Borderlands 3 easter eggs in the Battleborn Story operations. These contained some mysterious messages and hinted at some upcoming stuff. When the community decoded these messages some of the developers responded to the discovery. Which reinforced the “three” in Borderlands 3 ‘wink wink’ Easter eggs.
Borderlands Tech Demo
At the Game Developer Conference (GDC 2017) Randy Pitchford gave a presentation that shows some of their new technology. The visual art style clearly indicates that this is made for the Borderlands franchise.
Working on the Big Announcement
On several occasions, Randy Pitchford made it clear that they are working with 2K Games on a big announcement. One of those occasions was at E3 2017 with Geoff Keighley. Also during the IGN unfiltered interview with Randy Pitchford, he got asked; “why the long wait?”. Fans have been calling in at Randy’s Nerdvana Live Podcasts asking about Borderlands 3. And each time Randy mentioned that they want to better manage expectations and the only way to do that is to have everything in place before they officially announce the game (or the release date).
Borderlands 3 Development
90% of Gearbox Software is working on the thing you guys want most
Randy Pitchford
At the start of the “Inside Gearbox Panel” at Pax West 2017 Randy Pitchford mentioned that 90% of Gearbox Software is working on the thing we want most. That is obviously the next Borderlands game. It’s just weird that after all that we have heard that its a secret now. This might be because marketing isn’t all that happy with GBX talking publicly about their next game.
Update: Apparently Borderlands 2 VR is also one of those things that 90% of Gearbox Software is working on.
Fiscal 2019 / 2020
During various earnings reports of Take-Two Interactive (the parent company of 2K Games), they mentioned multiple times that a highly anticipated game from 2K games will release in fiscal 2019. In May 2018 this got pushed back to Fiscal 2020. Meaning that the Borderlands 3 release date would fall between April 1, 2019, and March 31, 2020. With all the hints we received, we can already make up that it’s about the next Borderlands. But we can also look back at their financial report of 2015 where they said they are working on a new Borderlands game.
Hints flying over the web
- The tone of the next Borderlands is more like the 1st game.
- Likes to be there for the offline players.
- Writer needed for an FPS/RPG Hybrid.
- Flamethrowers.
- 2K Director of Communications confirms working on the next Borderlands game
- Borderlands 3 gets listed on Walmart
- Moxxi’s voice actor has mentioned that she would return for her role in the next Borderlands.
- Update: Randy Pitchford’s Twitter account is basically a “number 3” tease fest at this point (03/25/2019)
- Update: Gearbox Software and 2K Games have dropped an awesome teaser trailer for their next Borderlands game.
Borderlands 3 Release Date / Window
Yes, the next Borderlands game is in development we got GBX, 2K, and Take-Two confirming that. However, there is no official Borderlands 3 release date set yet. But as the earnings report mentioned we can expect the game between April 1, 2019, and March 31, 2020. If 2K Games wants to promote this game to the mass audience they will likely showcase their game at some big game convention. Hopefully, we soon get a release date for the next Borderlands.
Stay tuned as I’ll be covering the next Borderlands game extensively. When new Borderlands information gets released I got your back! If you have any specific questions then check out the Borderlands 3 FAQ for a quick overview and links to in-depth articles on the most frequently asked Borderlands 3 questions.