‘Borderlands 3’ Slated For Early 2019 Launch, Clues Take-Two Is Hinting At Third Installment

Rumors are spreading that Gearbox’s hit series, Borderlands 3, is slated for an early 2019 release. Several hints have been dropped by Take-Two and Randy Picthford—the CEO of Gearbox—to validate a Borderlands 3 2019 release.

According to Game Rant, it is common knowledge that Gearbox has been working on another Borderlands title for more than two years now. The game studio’s efforts may finally be coming to fruition based on Take-Two Interactive’s commentary on its 2019 fiscal year.

Take-Two’s 2019 fiscal year is expected to start off well with the October release of Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption 2. The game publisher doesn’t seem to be solely relying on RDR2 for revenue, though. In fact, it has mentioned the launch of a much awaited new title from a big 2K Games franchise before. It appears that Take-Two expects RDR2 and this other 2K title to boost revenue in 2019.

Neither 2K Games and its parent company, Take-Two, have officially announced Borderlands 3. However, the Borderlands series is one of the big franchises 2K has under its belt.

Borderlands 3 Hints

Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford isn’t necessarily keeping mum about another Borderlands game. In fact, just recently he hinted at a sentient flamethrower appearing in the game inspired by Elon Musk. He tweeted his idea and suggested a collaboration with Musk on the flavor text for the flamethrower.

Besides Pitchford’s palpable excitement for the third installment of the franchise, another clue was gleaned by Gearbox’s post for a writer. The job post is looking for a writer for a triple-A FPS/RPG hybrid. PCGamesN notes that Gearbox asks explicitly for someone who loves to write comedy, which describes past Borderlands narratives well.

The latest hint, though, was dropped in the official Borderlands’ Twitter account. A tweet posted in late December 2017, teased a whole new weapon arsenal, promising some epic weaponry.

10 weapon manufacturers, gazillions of guns, and 400% more awesome! pic.twitter.com/Z9mTqmXnE8

— Borderlands (@Borderlands) December 28, 2017

Fan Fears About Borderlands 3

In a conference call held in November 2017, Take-Two revealed that it would follow the recurrent consumer spending trend—aka microtransactions, reported Gamasutra. The game publisher’s CEO, Strauss Zelnick, announced that every game published by the company would have a recurring monetary system in place.

“We’ve said that we aim to have recurrent consumer spending opportunities for every title that we put out at this company. It may not always be an online model, it probably won’t always be a virtual currency model, but there will be some ability to engage in an ongoing basis with our titles after release across the board.”

Gamers fear that loot boxes will take over Borderlands 3, based on the comments in the r/Gaming Reddit thread.

“I’m mostly worried that take 2K is going to force Gearbox to stuff [Borderlands 3] full of the wrong kind of loot boxes…” said u/glytchypoo.