The wait for Borderlands 4 is almost over, as its September 11th release day is now only a few days away. This time, Gearbox seems to have learned from past mistakes in the years since Borderlands 3, and one changed move already appears to be paying dividends. Specifically, Borderlands 4 has already made its way to the top of the Steam global sales chart, even though it has not been released yet, outranking the likes of indie darling Hollow Knight: Silksong and even the newly updated Helldivers 2 and No Man’s Sky. The decision not to make Borderlands 4 an Epic exclusive like its predecessor has enabled a swell of enthusiasm that seems to be cresting ahead of launch day, which is unlike how it felt when Borderlands 3 released.
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Borderlands 4 Won’t Be An Epic Store Exclusive This Time
In 2021, court documents related to an antitrust lawsuit between Epic Games and Apple revealed that Epic had paid a hefty $146 million to Borderlands 3 publisher Take-Two for a timed exclusivity deal for the PC version of the game. While the move financially secured the sequel to the popular looter shooter series, it also caused a wave of negative sentiment towards Borderlands 3 that helped foster an environment ripe for critics to exploit when diving into the game’s other flaws.
Fan sentiment was already negative before the release of Borderlands 3, thanks to various issues, including takedown actions Take-Two and 2K implemented against a YouTube leaker that inspired a viral boycott campaign. With the game being a timed Epic exclusive, boycotting it on release became even easier because the Epic Games Store was already under scrutiny by gaming communities due to widespread disapproval of its practices. When Borderlands 3 was finally released on Steam in March of the following year, it failed to reach the previous player count highs of Borderlands 2, and it lost the majority of these initial players by the time summer rolled around.
However, this lesson seems to have been learned with Borderlands 4. The game will not have any timed exclusivity, will be available on most major platforms from the start, and is even being released on the new Switch 2 just a few weeks after its initial release.
I think that, well, yes, while Take-Two and Gearbox seemed to have taken some lessons from past releases, this change also reflects how different the gaming space is from how it used to be just half a decade ago. Exclusivity no longer holds the power it once did. Numerous former exclusives are now spread out between different platforms. Xbox insiders claim we might even see a once untouchable console-exclusive series like Halo make its way onto PlayStation in the future. This is a far cry from the era of console warring that defined gaming up until now.
While the gaming landscape today has numerous issues one could point to with subscription models, AI-pressured mass layoffs, and an upcoming spending shortfall as gamers are resistant to rising prices, the end of the era of exclusivity and console wars feels like one of the few positives.
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