New Borderlands spin-off is in development - reports

It looks like the next Borderlands game is closer than many of us assumed.

The next Borderlands game is apparently not a numbered sequel, but some sort of interesting spin-off. That's according to a Gamereactor report, which suggests that we'll be hearing about it officially soon.

GamesBeat reporter Jeff Grubb said on his show that he's heard rumblings about the same project. Interestingly, however, Grubb added that it may not be entirely developed by series creator Gearbox.

Gearbox co-founder Randy Pitchford addressed these rumours on Twitter, denying that Gearbox would be a co-developer on any Borderlands game.

"I am told of rumors that Gearbox is 'assisting' or 'co-developing' another Borderlands game (or a new spin-off game)," Pitchford wrote.

"These rumors are NOT accurate. Gearbox is lead dev of any future games in the Borderlands franchise (or any Borderlands adjacent games) with no co-development."

Pitchford went on to add that Gearbox is, however, working on "the big one", and asked those interested to apply for a job at the studio.

"We are definitely working on some amazing stuff that, I hope, will surprise and delight you. Plug: if anyone out there has Skills-To-Pay-Bills and wants to get in on some Borderlands action, we're working on the big one :)," he added.

It's worth keeping in mind that Pitchford has a bit of history of denying reports that don't align with his perspective. He famously denied reports that Battleborn is going free-to-play about a year before the game went free-to-play. Ahead of Borderlands 3's launch, he also said the game won't have any microtransactions before the game's creative director confirmed it does, in fact, have some items you can purchase with real money - i.e., microtransactions.

Nevertheless, it sounds like this project may not be your typical Borderlands sequel; perhaps it takes the series into a new genre or tries a new spin on things. 2K Games parent company Take-Two is part of E3 2021's line-up, so we may hear about that game next month at the show.