Borderlands 3 in Development at Gearbox, Says Lead Writer Anthony Burch

Borderlands 2 has been flying off the shelves—both in the real world and digitally on Steam—since its release in September.

Since then, Gearbox has confirmed its plans to develop and release new DLCs to expand the content of Borderlands 2, first with the planned release of a new playable character called the Mechromancer, and later on with expansions to extend the game’s single player campaign and storyline.

Gearbox hasn’t disclosed much about its plans with the story-based DLCs, four of which are planned for release between now and the middle of next year, but they have stated that they also intend to develop new DLCs for release outside of the DLC Season Pass system they announced for the game’s aforementioned expansions.

With regards to Borderlands 3, Anthony Burch spilled the beans in an interview he gave on the Totally Rad Show. He had very little to say about the upcoming DLCs, but he confirmed with the hosts that Gearbox is thinking of Borderlands as a franchise.

“Now that Borderlands 2 is a thing and Borderlands franchise is a thing. Do you guys think about it like a franchise? Are you thinking ahead to 3?” Asked a TRS host.

“Oh yeah,” replied Burch. “The thing about game design is that it’s always so fluid that things can just change all the time so you don’t want to get too specific cause then you’re like ‘Oh, how do I get myself out of this hole that I thought would be a really cool idea two years ago?’”

“I’ll just punch myself in the dick for having stupid ideas,” he said. “But, yeah, there are definitely some more general ideas I have for Borderlands 3 that I hope we get to see come to fruition.”

Burch answered questions about his writing on Borderlands 2 and how he was hired to work on the project after making himself well known on as Destructoid’s “Rev Rant” video review series. He described the process as being “super collaborative and fun,” and it really shows in the quality of the game.

Beyond the revelation of Borderlands 3, the interview is well worth the watch if you’re interested in how the Borderlands 2 story came together, why it features a villain-centric narrative, and the games Burch used as influences for his writing. It’s no surprise that he cites Obsidian’s Fallout: New Vegas as one such game.