Revealed PAX East 2019, the long-anticipated Borderlands 3 news is now flowing, with the game having officially been announced by developer Gearbox Software. This reveal came with an action-packed trailer featuring new characters, burly enemies, and a vast arsenal of weaponry, while the Borderlands 3 release date of September 13, 2019 has now been revealed. Recent leaks have also given us a wider insight into what we can expect, including the news that it’ll be an Epic exclusive on PC and launch exclusively on the Epic Games Store.
Borderlands 3 release date
The Borderlands 3 release date will be September 13, 2019. It was officially revealed during a brand new announcement from Gearbox this week.
We previously had a pretty good idea of when we can expect the game to release, thanks to investor call reports from publisher Take-Two Interactive. In a 2017 report, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said that “one of 2K’s biggest franchises” would play a prominent role in their fiscal 2019 predictions, suggesting that a Borderlands 3 release date could fall within this period.
We also know that the original Borderlands’ GOTY edition is to release on April 3, which might hopefully tide us over until the Borderlands 3 release date.
Borderlands 3 Switch Port
Borderlands 3 will likely follow the precedent of previous games in the series and release on the PC, PS4, and Xbox One, but could we see a Borderlands 3 Switch port? The answer is most likely no, at least in the short term, as the Gearbox CEO tweeted in the past that talks with Nintendo had never come to fruition. According to the tweet, there was an interest in porting Borderlands to the Switch from Gearbox’s side, but Nintendo had “other priorities” during these talks.
While a Borderlands 3 release date probably won’t include a Nintendo Switch release in the near future, we could see past games in the Borderlands series come to the handheld console. With the upcoming release of the original Borderlands’ GOTY edition, and existing remakes of Borderlands 2 and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, it could be that Nintendo’s “priorities” focused on bringing these older releases to their platform. In fact, the Switch’s current hardware could struggle to run the intensive Borderlands 3 compared to current consoles, although reports of two new Switch consoles could remove this limitation.
Borderlands 3 new characters
The Borderlands 3 new characters were a highlight of the reveal trailer, with four new Vault Heroes lined up to take action in the upcoming sequel. Thanks to recent character leaks, we know which class each of these characters represents; from left to right, we have the Siren, the Beastmaster, the Gunner, and the Assassin. We haven’t seen the Beastmaster before, who reportedly utilizes their control over beasts in Borderlands 3, and is supposedly an android named Flak.
The Gunner is also a new addition to the Borderlands class formula, with the leaks suggesting that she rides a mech-bear into battle. It’s no surprise to see the Siren and Assassin feature in the core classes, given that these characters have been a playable class in every main Borderlands title. However, the leak reported that this Siren would have a greater focus on melee weaponry, and the Assassin will be armed with a vast arsenal of advanced gadgets.
Borderlands 3 leaks
While there may be no official Borderlands 3 release date, the recent 4chan leaks give us an insight into what we can expect from the next post-apocalyptic title. To begin with, classes will now have multiple action abilities to use in combat, replacing the single archetypal feature that previous titles used. This is expected to bring much more customizability to the game, allowing you to tailor each class to your preferences.
Bandits and Scavs won’t play as large a role in Borderlands 3 either, with the new faction of enemies that we saw in the reveal trailer supposedly framed as the main villains, led by the Calypso Twins. Reportedly set five years after the events of Borderlands 2, players may be able to visit multiple planets in the main story. Somewhere along this journey, past characters including, Claptrap, Tiny Tina, Mordecai, Brick, Rhys, Gortys, and the AI remains of Handsome Jack may also make an appearance.
