Is Borderlands 3 being abandoned after 1 year?

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#1

Greetings,

someone has uploaded the Borderlands 3 launch event from last week. It is shortened and the quality is not good. But in one of the interviews, Paul Sage was asked what their plans are for after the first year of content.

He basically said, that it is uncertain and that the team is more excited to work on other projects. I suppose many of you are familiar with PR speech. If those people do not give a clear yes, then it is always a no. And Paul Sage in particular has already done these things back when Elder Scrolls Online released, which already raised my attention.

However, just see for yourself and tell me what you think. :slight_smile: The discussion starts at roughly 28:14

I had hoped, Borderlands 3 would receive the time and attention it deserves, for more than a few lousy months. The money is literally on the street.

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#2

Their team has been working on this game for over 5 years, I’m sure they’re excited to move on to other projects. With that being said, though, I think there will still be plenty of support for this game, as long as the community continues to play and they make sales, they will continue to support it.

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#3

That doesn’t read as “abandoning” to me. They may toss out some smaller content like the head hunter packs while they gauge the reception, and then drop larger campaign updates at longer intervals.

Pretty much like any other online game when you think about it. In this aspect, I think they may take the MMO approach to content updates.

#4

Exactly. They’ll also release new content based on the feedback they get, but it won’t take the entire studio to support the game - they can have a much smaller development team create content and fix bugs as needed. The rest of the studio will be working on new projects that haven’t been planned out yet. There was a patch that came out for BL 2 last year and that game’s over 5 years old now; I wouldn’t read anything into Paul’s statement outside of there may or may not be more content after the planned content is released, but that doesn’t mean support is going to stop. An example is that there aren’t any current plans for a new Vault Hunter, but that GBX may add one if there’s enough requests from the community. As much as the men and women at GBX like making games, there still needs to be a return on their investment for them to add additional content after the initial release period. So if you want to see something in the game, make your requests known and/or support those who share similar ideas. The more traction they get, the better chance they’ll be added.

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#5

Their original plans for Borderlands 2 were only for 1 year as well and the game got additional DLC after additional DLC, despite hardware limitations. If the game does well, then Borderlands 3’s lifespan can be just as long, if not longer. And the community will add to this as well with events and user-created-content.

#6

Thank you for your opinions, folks. :slight_smile:

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#7

I’m so out of touch with game development and what gamers expect nowadays. When did developing for 5 years so it’s great, and further supporting a game for an entire year, become “abandoning it after a few lousy months”?

If hyperbole like that is the norm, it makes me wonder what’s going on in the gaming industry that’s making people so cynical.

(I kinda want to know, but I also don’t want to get bummed out. For example, I recently looked into PS4 controllers and ended up learning about the insidious use of Door-in-the-face technique in games, especially in games with mtx. The more you dig into something the more bummed you’ll get haha)

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#8

I know they specifically said that they had no intention of it becoming a “games as a service” model. And, they thought that it should stick to its existing formula, which works.

I’m more interested in hearing them say that they will begin work on Borderlands 4… so, we won’t have to wait 7 years for that one to come out.

#9

Our minds were poisoned by the vultures of the industry for way too long.

It is a shame, that carrying for a game out of passion and love, is widely considered “Games as a service” now. There is a huge difference between this and the other.

You can drive an insidious and greedy plan to release unfinished games and then charge players for adding things that should have been in there all along. But Borderlands 3 does not come across as such a game. They took their time, it seems finished and supporting it merely sends a positive message to the community. That their game is still being updated and added to.

I find this virtuous and worth striving for. Abandoning such a big project after a mere year is really sad and I really do not see, why people would support this.

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#10

You are jesting ? You rather have your entire progress made obsolete and overshadowed by a newer game ? This is not my philosophy at all.

I rather see the game I am investing my time and effort in being expanded on, rather than spit out like a bubblegum that became boring. This is a really shameful agenda nowadays. Making a new game of the series ever year, rather than making something good and persistent and putting passion into it.

I dearly hope, they do not follow this path. A good game does not deserve being treated like a bubblegum.

#11

I really hope you don’t chew the same piece of bubblegum for 7 years… Violet Beauregarde?

#12

I would not be monotone if the bubblegum was refreshed or reflavored frequently. :slight_smile:

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#13

its will probably , borderlands series included 4 dlc 2 character + headhunter thats what u can expect , but the playerbase doesnt go away.

#14

I don’t WANT any developer to have plans for DLC that go on for years and years right on release. Every game that comes out swinging their big decade-long DLC plans around flop. Evolve shriveled. Destiny survived it, after cutting their losses on the first game and starting on a second one with more realistic goals.

I want a complete game, and Gearbox can sell me more when it’s clear people enjoyed the original product.

#15

I agree with that. It is just, that it sounded like they barely even consider it.

#16

I am honestly not that concerned about this given Gearbox’s record of supporting BL1 and BL2. BL1 got the DLCs and then, when the original GameSpy servers used for multiplayer on PS3 and PC were shutdown, GBX worked with others to restore multiplayer. That was 2014-2015, five years after initial release and well after all the DLC.

Then there was the massive 2015 patch for BL2 on PS3, PS3, 360, XB1, and PC three years after launch. And that was also after the unexpected production of the Head Hunter packs, which were basically a ‘thank you’ from GBX to fans of the game.

TPS was odd because it was made by 2KAus, a studio that was shuttered soon after thanks in no small part to the gutting of subsidies for game developers from the Aus government. But even that got support in its original release version up to the end of 2015 (a year past launch).

All that to say, there’s going to be content with continued support once the planned content is out of the way. GBX do have other stuff they’ve been working on, so we’ll see that at some point. And then - who knows? No-one would have predicted Head Hunter packs or a 5th DLC back in 2012-13.

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