Will there be any Borderlands 3 microtransactions? It’s been a long time since the days of Borderlands 2 and its boatload of DLC and the game market has changed significantly since then. Some players are rightfully concerned that there will be Borderlands 3 loot boxes or Borderlands 3 premium currency to contend with. Previous reports stated that they won’t be an issue, but some recent statements from Randy Pitchford indicate that we’ll probably be getting something extra that we can buy with our hard-earned money.
Borderlands 3 Microtransactions | The tweets from Randy Pitchford
A Game Informer article quoted a Gearbox executive clarifying the issue in an interview. “We’re selling cosmetic items, but we’re not going to nickel and dime players,” said Borderlands 3 Creative Director Paul Sage in the article. “DLC will come down the line, but the game won’t have anything excessive.” However, Gearbox President and CEO Randy Pitchford took issue with the article and followed it up with some statements of his own on Twitter.
“Come on guys – sh***y clickbait headline,” Mr. Pitchford said in a tweet in response to the Game Informer article. “Literally seconds before I said that, I made it very clear we’re going to do more cosmetic stuff like we did in Borderlands 2. You know I was talking about premium currency and loot boxes kind of stuff NOT being in our game.”
He continued to explain how Borderlands 3 microtransactions would work in a tweet on the following day. “There will be tons of cosmetic drops as (free) loot in Borderlands 3. Currently there are no plans for any cosmetic DLC, but I anticipate there will be customer demand [post-launch] that we will be excited to meet just as we did with additional optional cosmetic [DLC] for BL2.”
So, will there be Borderlands 3 microtransactions? Paid loot boxes and premium currency do seem pretty unlikely. There also aren’t any concrete plans for paid cosmetic DLC, but that is one door that Mr. Pitchford seems to have left often.