Borderlands has always been about its persistent online experience. It can, in fact, be said to be one of the first games to make use of the concept, which was then later popularized and taken further by games such as Destiny and The Division. However, Borderlands 3 may not necessarily be an always online game, since developers Gearbox are thinking about plenty of new features and mechanics that they want to implement in their upcoming game.

Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford recently took to Twitter, and when a fan mentioned Borderlands being an always-online experience with raids and lots of loot, Pitchford said that that while he likes the idea of raids a loots a lot, he also wants to make sure his games have something for people who don’t prefer online gaming as well. While he didn’t specifically mention Borderlands 3, it seems safe to assume that the game will probably share his philosophies as well.

In another tweet, Pitchford confirmed passingly that Gearbox is indeed working on new things right now, and while he didn’t go into specifics once again, or even mention when we might be hearing of these new things, it’s pretty clear that the team is including them in the Borderlands 2 sequel.

Borderlands 3 doesn’t have a release date yet- in fact, it hasn’t even been officially announced but has already been confirmed to be in development. Stay tuned to GamingBolt and we’ll keep you updated on anything and everything to do with the game.

I like the idea of raids and loot – we kind of pioneered that in FPS. I also like on-line. But we want to be there for off-line gamers, too.

— Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) October 6, 2017

Thanks! Game is a team effort! We’re making new things as I type!

— Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) October 9, 2017

Borderlands 2 was released back in 2012, and soon enough, fans were hyped for the third installment in the series. Gearbox did however release Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel back in 2014. The next installment in the franchise will be a significant step forward for the franchise according to Randy Pitchford, President of Gearbox studio.

Pitchford pointed to Rockstar’s approach regarding the Grand Theft Auto series and how each game releases only a while after the previous one and this in turn allows each new installment to be innovative and fresh to fans of the franchise. With the next installment of Borderlands, Pitchford and his team seem to be following a similar route.

“If we’re going to do one, it’s going to be that,” Pitchford stated to IGN in reference to how big fans want Borderlands 3 to be, and  “that’s not something you can just cook up overnight.”

“The easiest thing in the world would be for us to churn out a lot of Pre-Sequels, and we could make a lot of money,” Pitchford stated. “But I don’t think that’s—I think we need to figure this out and do this right. So we’re going to work on it, and when we think we’ve had it—we’re not going to announce anything until we think we have something worthy of announcing. And then we’ll set expectations on that.”

While Borderlands 3 has not yet been officially announced, the studio has in the recent past implied that a lot of them are working on the latest installment in the series. It may be a while before we have any official news regarding Borderland 3’s release, but as of now, the studio’s emphasis on quality and innovation is certainly a step in the right direction.

Borderlands 3 may not have received a proper, official announcement yet, but we all know that it’s coming soon, and that Gearbox are hard at work on it. That was something that Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford more or less confirmed as well. During Gearbox’s PAX West panel, Pitchford spoke about the development of Borderlands 3 in quite a bit of detail.

Pitchford acknowledged that the game is something that a lot of people are waiting for, and said that while he couldn’t give any specific details until the game had been officially announced, he confirmed that Gearbox are indeed well into the game’s production. He mentioned that combining the people at the studio’s headquarters in Texas and the studio in Quebec, as well as contractors and third party outsourced workers, there’s around four hundred people working for the studio, and that about 90 per cent of these are all working on Borderlands 3.

What the game is going to be like, what we can expect from it, when we can expect it, or even when we can expect just the announcement itself was all stuff that Pitchford refused to talk about, but hey, it’s definitely encouraging to see that the development of the game is in full throttle.

We know nothing about Borderlands 3 other than the fact that it is currently in development and that it will release at a completely unspecified date in the future, so any and all information on the game is more than welcome. And going by this latest updates, it looks like Gearbox are gearing – obvious pun is obvious – to make the upcoming game more in vein of the first game of the series rather than the second.

How exactly? Well, most importantly, it looks like weapon proficiencies from the first game might be making a return. Proficiencies in Borderlands 1 were basically passive bonuses that players received with experience points, and each weapon had their own unique proficiencies. Keep in mind though, that this is no way a confirmation, and mostly conjecture on our part- we’re just gathering this from what little information we’ve got right now, so take it with a grain of salt.

Additionally, it also seems like Gearbox want to make Borderlands 3 more in like with the first game in terms of tone and its brand of humour, going back from the chaotic, in-your-face humour Borderlands 2 to the darker and drier brand we saw in its predecessor. We’ve gleaned all this thanks to a tweet from Randy Pitchford, CEO of Gearbox, in which he responded to a fan talking about these very things. Check out the tweet below.

We have no idea when Borderlands 3 will be out, but we will keep bringing you more updates on the game as they come our way. So stay tuned to GamingBolt.

That said, I *love* Borderlands 2. But I share your opinion about Borderlands 1. I think the tone in next game is closer to 1 than 2.

— Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) June 28, 2017

We know that Gearbox are working on Borderlands 3, the third entry in their beloved loot RPG shooter franchise. However, no official announcement regarding most details about that game has yet been made. We expect the game to be out on PS4, Xbox One, and PC, as an example, but that’s not actually officially confirmed.

However, taking to Twitter, Gearbox’s Randy Pitchford did confirm one important thing- Borderlands 3 is not likely to be hitting the Nintendo Switch at all. “I do not see that as happening. We were talking to Nintendo, but that stopped for some reason. They have other priorities,” he said, suggesting that the game won’t be hitting Nintendo’s hybrid after all.

As for what he means by other priorities- it is possible he is referring to the system’s online functionality, which looks to be at the very least different, and at the most more restrictive, than online functionality on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. That said, it is a shame- given the Switch’s emphasis on built in local co-op, Borderlands would have worked nicely on it.