Borderlands developer Gearbox has called on fans to let it know what they want next from the next game in the franchise, as work begins on “an exciting overall direction.”
Borderlands 4 just wrapped up its Year 1 of DLC, and in a note to fans today, Gearbox issued its long-awaited future content announcement, confirming more is coming to the looter shooter next year. “Moving forward, Weekly Activity refreshes and Community Challenges will continue,” Gearbox said. “We just wrapped our Year 1 roadmap, and the team is cooking hard on more Borderlands 4 content for next year.” What this content involves beyond Weekly Activity refreshes and Community Challenges was not specified.
Gearbox then spoke vaguely about its plans for the future of the Borderlands franchise, asking fans for their opinions.
“The team is constantly listening to community feedback, and they are exploring additional character arcs, storylines, and an exciting overall direction for the future of the franchise,” Gearbox said.
The studio continued: “… we’re also taking a bigger look at the franchise as a whole. Where can we take it next? What characters do you want to spend more time with? What stories deserve a payoff? A huge part of that is listening to you. Keep the conversation going – we’re listening. Tell us what you think! Share your thoughts with us on social and tune into the Gearbox Devcast. We’re always responding to community feedback on that show.”
Don’t hold your breath for the announcement of Borderlands 5 or whatever the next game ends up being called, however. It sounds like early days.
“All that said, big plans take time, and we need some room to work,” Gearbox added. “You can trust that we’ll talk more when the time is right. Now is your chance to influence what we’ll say. We’re listening and we’re working hard for you. Thanks for being with us in the Borderlands.”
The announcement comes as the Borderlands franchise crossed 100 million units sold. Over the summer, fans were questioning how well Borderlands 4 had done not just in terms of launch sales, but continuing player base, and how that might have affected Gearbox’s plans, as they waited for confirmation of a second year of support.
Since launching in September, Borderlands 4 has suffered various controversies, mostly to do with severe PC performance issues. Outspoken CEO Randy Pitchford went on the offensive, responding directly to complaints on social media to Claptrap back at disgruntled fans.
Strauss Zelnick, boss of Gearbox parent company Take-Two, previously admitted that Borderlands 4 sales had suffered “a little bit of softness” as a result of the technical issues, but expressed confidence “it’ll all be made up” given enough time. The Nintendo Switch 2 version was scrapped, with Take-Two saying Gearbox had prioritized continued “improvements” to the game on its existing platforms.
All the while, Borderlands 4 remains on a ‘mixed’ user review rating on Steam. After launching to over 300,000 concurrent players on Valve’s platform, Borderlands 4 now averages a concurrent peak in the four digits. Steam numbers do not paint the entire picture of a game’s popularity as it’s also on consoles, but it’s clear Borderlands 4 could do with a shot in the arm.