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Borderlands 3’s short pre-release period was “incredibly beneficial” Gearbox’s creative director Paul Sage told MCV@gamescom. Having been unveiled at PAX East at the end of March with a trailer, Borderlands 3 is releasing on September 13th. That’s only six months after its reveal – a very short cycle by today’s standards.
“This is a decision that [publisher] 2K and Gearbox came to but I’m going to give you my take on it: I love this decision,” he told MCV@gamescom. “As much as possible as a developer you want to be able to talk about the game and get it out there early. I think the public can actually hear too much and get a bit: ‘Oh, but when is it coming, when is it coming?’. And the anticipation can only hold for so long before somebody starts to lose interest. I think shorter cycles is something I really love as a developer because we can keep people getting new information that feels fresh every time we speak and there’s not such a long cycle that we’re like: ‘I have no idea’…
“Even if the game has a lot of interesting things to talk about, how do you extend on that when it’s two years at a time? A nice short cycle is just incredibly beneficial.”
On the topic of what’s beneficial to developers, Sage also addressed the rise of new platforms such as Stadia (that Borderlands 3 will eventually release on) and stores such as the Epic Games Store (with the title being exclusive to Epic’s shop for six months).
“Just from a personal point of view, as a developer, I want [Borderlands 3] to be everywhere,” he said, explaining why Gearbox was keen to be an early adopter to both platforms. “We create something for people to be able to play and entertain them. Just for me as a developer, you get greedy to see people playing your game.”
