While Gearbox Entertainment is getting ready for the release of Borderlands 4, studio CEO Randy Pitchford has spoken about how there will also be more to come for spin-off title Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands. In an interview with All Out Gaming, Pitchford spoke about how we will see more of the spin-off, since there are plenty of developers at Gearbox who also love fantasy as a genre.
In the interview, Pitchford spoke about the history of the spin-off series, which started all the way back with Borderlands 2 DLC Assault on Dragon Keep, which featured Tiny Tina as a tabletop RPG-styled dungeon master pitting players against fantasy creatures. This DLC would eventually also be released as a standalone title.
“Oh, I feel like we’re just getting started there,” said Pitchford. “I love fantasy and we have a whole team of people that love fantasy. It first started as Assault on Dragon Keep as an expansion to Borderlands 2, where Tiny Tina’s the dungeon master – we called her the bunker master of this in-universe role-playing game we call Bunkers and Badasses. And obviously we love it.”
Pitchford also spoke about Bunkers and Badasses – the Borderlands universe’s equivalent to tabletop RPG Dungeons & Dragons – and how it served as an excellent framework for more potential fantasy-themed adventures that still made use of Borderlands gameplay and mechanics.
“We got to use [the Bunkers and Badasses] foothold as a way to spin off the amazing, fun gameplay that we pioneered with the looter shooter of Borderlands and put that in a fantasy game for the first time, bringing guns to a sword fight,” continued Pitchford. “Like, what a joy. Like holy s***. We just went bats*** crazy and had so much fun. And it worked.”
While Assault on Dragon Keep turned out to be quite successful, Pitchford did acknowledge that follow-up title Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands was a risk for the studio. However, with the newer game also seeing success, he believes that, rather than being a risk, it is now a beachhead. “I would bet that we are going to spend more time on that,” he said.
Back in July 2024, Pitchford had spoken about Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, and how he sees fan response to the game and a potential sequel for it as being “reasonable”.
“We had a bigger result with the first Wonderlands game than we did with the first Borderlands game, so that’s something we can build on,” he said. “I love fantasy. That’s why we did the original Dragon Keep DLC for Borderlands 2, because I love fantasy so much. So many of us at Gearbox love fantasy, and it gives us that kind of place to to mess around with that in the context of the Borderlands themes and universe. I think it’s reasonable for our fans to expect more there.”
Pitchford had also confirmed that more Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands follow-ups were in the works all the way back in 2022. However, rumours from 2024 had indicated that sequel to the follow-up had seen something of a “soft reboot” in its development.
In the meantime, Borderlands 4 is coming to PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S on September 12. A Nintendo Switch 2 version is also in the works, set for release on October 3.