Earlier this week, Gearbox Software released the official reveal trailer for Borderlands 3 with all the bravado and machismo that you would expect of the franchise. This time around, the developer posted the game’s announce trailer on YouTube, complete with a little more in-game information, a launch date, and some not so great news for PC gamers.
To cut to the chase, Borderlands 3’s official launch date is set for 13 September 2019. This time around, the four new Vault Hunters players will be able to choose from are Moze, FL4K, Amara, and Zane.
Specific details for all four character classes are still shrouded in mystery, but one thing is confirmed; Amara is the game’s new playable Siren class. As previously seen in the reveal trailer, the new Vault Hunters will be facing-off against the Calypso Twins, the primary antagonists of the games.
Borderlands 3 will be gracing all three major platform, which are the PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Unfortunately for PC gamers, it looks like the game is set to be a timed exclusive, available only on the Epic Games Store. This makes Borderlands 3 the latest in a growing list of triple-A titles to have jumped over to Steam’s growing rival. Including The Division 2, Quantic Dream’s once PS4 exclusive games, and Metro Exodus.
While it’s not explicitly stated, one reason behind Gearbox Software’s decision to make Borderlands 3 an Epic Games Store exclusive is unsurprisingly a financial one. Epic Games only takes a 12% cut in sales, compared to Steam’s 30% cut from all game sales (20% if the game makes more than US$50 million (~RM204 million) in sales).
Further, there’s also a 5% fee that developers are expected to pay to Epic Games if a game is built around the Unreal Engine. A fee that Epic Games is prepared to waive if the developer in question chooses to publish the game on its store.
2K, the publisher for Borderlands 3, says that the time exclusivity for Borderlands 3 is slated to end on April 2020. To the credit of both the publisher and developer, at least they didn’t put the pre-order up on Steam. Only to switch over to Epic Games Store at the 11th hour and earn the ire of gamers who pre-ordered the game nearly a year in advance.
