An errant tweet from the official Borderlands Twitter account may have unintentionally revealed that Borderlands 3 will be out on September 13. The tweet, which appeared to be an ad that fired too early, has since been deleted, but luckily we managed to capture an image, and it’s also been uploaded to the Internet Archive.
Gearbox has used the word “mayhem” to describe Borderlands 3 several times previously, so while the title itself isn’t in the tweet, it’s pretty clear what the reference is.
September 13 is pretty far off of the October 1 release date theory that popped up last week (and which I still think is a good one, despite being largely debunked) but it puts the game within the FY2019 release window that Take-Two Interactive has previously indicated. It could be a bit of April Fool’s misdirection, but dropping an incorrect release date through official channels really isn’t funny, it’s just an awful marketing move.
Courtesy of Twitter user Wario64, it also appears that Borderlands 3 will be released on the Epic Games Store. A second deleted ad post includes a few seconds of footage and an Epic store logo at the end. That doesn’t necessarily mean it will be an Epic exclusive, but there’s no overlooking that the video below contains the Epic Store logo, but not Steam’s.
Borderlands 3 releasing on Epic Games Store (from a Twitter ad video that is now deleted) pic.twitter.com/d4v17GapWZApril 1, 2019
Update: Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford’s response to the leak gives us another reason to believe that Borderlands 3 could launch as an Epic Games Store exclusive. In a series of tweets, he states that publisher 2K Games and its parent Take-Two Interactive are responsible for “all decisions regarding price-points, territories, distribution and platform partnerships.” Direct your complaints to them, in other words.
Pitchford then says that he thinks “exclusives are fine when they come w/ advantages and when they are short—say, six months,” which it’s hard not to take as a hint. Still, we have no official confirmation one way or the other.
As a customer, I’m happy to shop in different stores – already do! I’ve bought games from Xbox, Playstation, Switch, Steam, Origin, GOG, Humble, Uplay, Epic and other stores. To me, exclusives are fine when they come w/ advantages and when they are short – say, six months 🙂 2/3April 1, 2019
A 2K Games rep declined to comment on the leaks in an email, writing, “We have nothing to announce at this time, but will have more to share about Borderlands 3 on April 3.” Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford said last week that that’s when the launch date will be “locked in and revealed.”