A Borderlands Game Could Come To Nintendo Switch, But Don't Count On It

Earlier this month, Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford said it was unlikely that Borderlands 3 would come to Nintendo Switch in part because conversations with Nintendo "fell apart."

Now, Pitchford has elaborated more on the situation. Speaking to Glixel, Pitchford said he is personally excited about Switch but acknowledged that a Borderlands game for the system is unlikely, at least right away. If the Switch sells enough units and a version of Borderlands can be made for the system that doesn't "compromise the experience," then it could happen.

"Nintendo tends to be at their best when they're giving us their best experiences with their properties," Pitchford said. "I think there might be some scenarios where if the Switch becomes a place where there's a huge number of customers, and it doesn't compromise the experience that we're making--there could be a scenario where us or Take-Two and 2K decide to take the effort to make it happen."

"But we can't really think about that right now. And Nintendo, I think wisely, can't prioritize forcing that to happen. I think they're better off," he added. "What it would take for them to guarantee that we exist on the Switch would be better spent by them doing the things they're best at. It wasn't meant as a slight; it's just the reality of priorities."

Pitchford went on to say that the audience for a Borderlands game on Switch may not be very big when compared to the more traditional PlayStation and Xbox systems that don't have on-the-go elements.

"Most of the people that want the kind of big stuff that we're doing are totally happy to do it on their television with their PlayStations and their Xboxes," he said. "And Nintendo's not going to win by trying to take people away from that. They're going to win by offering something that those guys can't offer, which is exactly what they're doing and should be doing. That's where they should dedicate their resources. And I think they're really smart for doing it."

You can read the full Glixel interview here.

The Borderlands series is published by 2K Games, whose parent company is Take-Two Interactive, one of the dozens of confirmed publishing partners for the Switch. An NBA 2K game is coming to Switch.

Pitchford confirmed Borderlands 3 in April 2016 during PAX East. "Obviously, there is going to be another Borderlands," he said at the time, explaining that it may not be called that.

Borderlands 3 was originally announced in January 2015, at which time Pitchford referred to it as "the big one." Take-Two later clarified that this game is being developed "specifically for next-gen," indicating it will launch for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, as well as presumably PC.

The Borderlands franchise debuted in 2009 with the original Borderlands and its sequel Borderlands 2 arrived in 2012. A third game, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, was released in 2014 for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 before being ported to Xbox One and PlayStation 4 through the Handsome Collection in 2015. Pitchford said in the Glixel interview that the Borderlands series has now reached 30 million copies sold, across all entries.