Borderlands 4 – Gearbox CEO “Wouldn’t Use ‘Open World'” to Describe It

2K Games has a pretty impressive line-up this year with Sid Meier’s Civilization 7 in February and Mafia: The Old Country in the Summer. The other major sequel without much of a specific window is Borderlands 4, which Gearbox Entertainment touts as the series’ “most ambitious” title yet.

CEO Randy Pitchford told GameSpot last month that the world was also the “most open and free ever,” but that doesn’t necessarily make it open-world. Responding to content creator MentalMars’ video, Pitchford said, “I wouldn’t use ‘open world’ to describe Borderlands 4 because the term comes with a lot of baggage that doesn’t apply. You’ll see.”

While he told GameSpot that everything seen in the trailer is a “playable space that you can get to and reach without a load time”, Pitchford noted that it isn’t “a systemic, algorithmically filled world.” However, it will be seamless to explore, “larger than anything we’ve ever done,” and “filled like nothing we’ve ever done.”

Borderlands 4 will be available for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC when it launches this year, with gameplay set to debut in the coming months. The story focuses on a new planet, Kairos, where four new Vault Hunters must contend with the conflict between the Timekeeper’s Order and Queen Callius’s Rippers. Alongside two-player local split-screen and four-player online co-op, it provides new features like accessing your vehicle anywhere.

I wouldn’t use “open world” to describe BL4 because the term comes with a lot of baggage that doesn’t apply. You’ll see.

— Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) December 28, 2024