Gearbox has been questioned about the future of their award-winning Borderlands gaming series ever since we first got our hands on the 2009 original, and for good reasons. The title had taken video game cool to a whole new level with its unique comic book look and vivid gameplay. The following that it had garnered was massive to say the least, and that success was taken forward by leaps with the release of its sequel, Borderlands 2, in 2012.
Not only did Borderlands 2 manage to be an even bigger success than its predecessor, which is a rare feat in itself, but also impressed the community enough to wind up with more nominations that one can count. However, while fans began demands for the story to be taken forward with a third main entry, Gearbox gave them a kind of a half-wish fulfillment in the form of Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel in 2014. Not that we were complaining, for being able to play yet another Borderlands game and explore the backstory a little more while we were at it. But five years after the release of Borderlands 2 we are still waiting for that sequel- the highly anticipated Borderlands 3- Gearbox’s third chance of showing the world how a video game can stand out from the masses and take the cake.
The bad news on that front is that there are still no official statements about Borderlands 3 game. There is hope, however, for Gearbox has made it plenty clear that they are not averse to making that prized sequel. They know that there is still a large audience base for the Borderlands franchise, and for us, what works is that the concept is something that is difficult to be dated. We know that Borderlands 3 is going to be absolutely massive, and the developers know that as well. This is why the studio took a long time to even consider to start working on Borderlands 3.
To trace the timeline, back in 2014, Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford had said that the time was not right to start working on Borderlands 3 for a sequel to the award-winning second installment would have to be huge. But the very next year, Pitchford announced that Gearbox was finally beginning to take Borderlands 3 seriously, and that initial work on the project had begun. He did throw a curveball, however, when he said that the new game might not be called Borderlands 3 at all, but something entirely different. But the best thing about his announcement was the fact that he acknowledged the importance of the next game by calling it the big one.
But while last year was relatively quiet in terms of updates regarding Borderlands 3, 2017 has been pretty great for us fans. The year began with a tech showing at the Game Developers Conference that demonstrated new graphical technology that could be used in a Borderlands game in the future. But what really excited us was that the demo video seemed to contain bits and pieces of what looked like an in-progress Borderlands game. Recently too, the Gearbox Chief put up a Twitter status saying that he was shooting for an unnamed game. While we don’t know that this mystery game is Borderlands 3, but we can’t imagine what else Gearbox would tease to this extent at a time when the world is going crazy to hear something about Borderlands 3.
So even though the creators won’t say anything right now, we are optimistic that Borderlands 3 is currently in development. With the way things are going, we expect the game to be announced in 2017 with the release date slated for next year.
