In Borderlands 3, you can see what happens when a studio hesitates to make an announcement but still wants to build hype. The rumor mill is overflowing.
The studio Gearbox is in a strange situation:
- While the studio is large, it is not officially working on a new game.
- Therefore, there is hardly any news from the studio.
- Gearbox desperately needs a hit, as their last game, Battleborn, is considered one of the biggest flops in recent gaming history. It even put Gearbox on a death list at the end of 2016.
- Gearbox has an insanely successful and beloved franchise in “Borderlands”. Borderlands seems perfectly poised to dominate the market with a new installment that Destiny or The Division have opened up.
The ways Gearbox has not announced Borderlands 3
For a long time, Gearbox has been playing a strange game. They do not announce Borderlands 3, so they do not officially talk about it, but make it clear: “This is what we are working on.” They build the hype, even jumping onto PR stunts with flamethrowers, but never let the cat out of the bag.
- At GDC 2017, there was a “Tech Demo” showcasing “This is what Borderlands 3 would look like if we were working on it”.
- The head of Gearbox, Randy Pitchford, said at Pax West in September 2017: “400 people are working on the game you want us to work on.”
- And publisher Take2 mentioned in February 2018 that they would bring a “highly anticipated title by March 2019.”
In all these cases, it is clearly about Borderlands 3, but the game has not been announced yet, so no one names the title of the game.
What happens in such a situation? The rumor mill is overflowing
Just in the last few weeks, two rumors about Borderlands 3 have surfaced:
On one hand, a picture surfaced on reddit claiming that the big Borderlands 3 reveal will be on June 10 – right before E3 2018.
On the other hand, there was a rumor that Microsoft had secured the marketing rights to Borderlands 3. Therefore, Borderlands 3 would be shown at the Microsoft press conference at E3.
The head of Gearbox strongly denied the last rumor. It had no basis whatsoever.
However: These rumors are a consequence of Gearbox’s strange policy. If you want to keep hype bubbling around a game, you should announce it and then bring news from development. Otherwise, fans will apparently create this news themselves – and a gaming press that senses a “scoop” and wants to satisfy its readers’ interest will latch onto these rumors.
The currently overflowing rumor mill certainly also shows a problem within the gaming press. But primarily, it is a result of the cat-and-mouse game that Gearbox plays with its fans.
The Division 2, Borderlands 3, Anthem: It’s getting tight for Destiny 2
