A brand new gameplay trailer for Borderlands 3, the next entry in Gearbox’s looter shooter series, was released only yesterday, showing off a bunch of new features that fans can be excited to experience. However, with it also brought some mild confusion. During the livestream where the trailer was shown off, Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford assured fans that the game wouldn’t feature any microtransactions or “free-to-play junk.” However, he also stated that there would be purchasable cosmetics, like customizable heads and skins, which many consider to be text-book examples of microtransactions.
Later, creative director Paul Sage further clarified that, while these aforementioned cosmetics would be purchasable, there won’t be any pay-to-win implementation and that Gearbox is not going down the games-as-a-service route. He also confirmed that there won’t be any microtransaction currencies that players can buy.
While some fans see this as a good thing, others aren’t particularly impressed, saying that Gearbox not implementing these is the bare minimum and it shouldn’t be congratulated for it. It’s also worth remembering that Borderlands 3 still has four different special editions coming out, with the most expensive one costing $250, and they come with a season pass that includes cosmetics, weapons, and even experience points.
What hasn’t helped to assuage fans’ worries was some of Pitchford’s responses to people questioning his “no microtransactions” comment. Over Twitter, he expressed outrage over Game Informer’s reporting of the livestream and further attacked the site when fans accused him of lying, blaming Game Informer for its “incomplete context click bait bulls***.” While there were some who defended Pitchford, it also led to mockery and criticism. Considering Pitchford has developed an unfortunate reputation over the last several years, having been accused of siphoning money from Borderlands and verbally attacking games journalists, his subsequent meltdown has not been a great PR move. He and Game Informer’s editor-in-chief, Andy McNamara, were eventually able to settle the dispute but the damage has arguably already been done.
We were fortunate enough to try out Borderlands 3 ourselves at a special event, where Pitchford made it quite clear in his keynote speech that Gearbox wanted to defy what the rest of the industry is currently doing. But between what we can officially consider microtransactions and the numerous special editions - two things a lot of modern games are notorious for doing - Pitchford’s claims may ring hollow for a lot of people.
Borderlands 3 will release on September 13th for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Source: PCGamer
