Latest news with #GearboxEntertainment
Geek Culture
23-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Culture
'Borderlands 4' Nets Nintendo Switch 2 Version A Month After Main Release
Gearbox Entertainment's upcoming looter-shooter sequel, Borderlands 4 , has now landed a Nintendo Switch 2 version, with the game headed to the hybrid console on 3 October 2025, just one month after its main release. Taking to X/Twitter, Gearbox head Randy Pitchford announced the game's Nintendo Switch 2 launch date in his signature casual style, reminiscent of his previous reveal of the title's early release. In the clip, he addressed fan concerns that the Switch 2 version would not arrive anytime soon due to the lack of pre-order announcements, and cheekily set up the notion that it would not release this year, only to drop the reveal of its October launch right at the end. The announcement of Borderlands 4's Switch 2 launch date within the year will certainly be great news for fans eager to take the mayhem with them on the go, especially considering Gearbox's previous statements that the version would arrive later than other platforms. This was in part due to the team's decision to make a dedicated Switch 2 version of the game over a simple port, with Pitchford explaining that the hybrid console was 'a joy to work with' and that it was 'pretty astonishing how perfect [the] platform is for Borderlands 4 .' With Borderlands 4's early launch date of 12 September 2025 on the PlayStation, Xbox and PC, things are already looking pretty promising for the upcoming shooter sequel, which looks set to ramp up the mayhem fans know and love, with Pitchford and Gearbox Global Creative Executive Officer Andrew Reiner explaining during a previous interview with Geek Culture how the team is bringing the series back to its roots while expanding on core concepts. Now, with an early-than-expected release date on the Nintendo Switch 2, the game will also attract a brand new legion of fans when Borderlands 4 drops on the hybrid console on 3 October 2025. Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise 'duds' like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3 . He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying. Borderlands 4 Gearbox Entertainment Nintendo switch 2
Digital Trends
18-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Digital Trends
Borderlands 4 pushes the series forward while addressing past mistakes
Multiplayer shooters have evolved quite a bit since the first Borderlands was released in 2009, but I can appreciate that Gearbox Entertainment's series has stayed mostly the same over that time. Booting up a Borderlands game, I always know I can expect vibrant comic-book style visuals, solid solo or co-op shooter gameplay, charmingly grating humor, and a whole lot of loot. All of these things still ring true and louder than ever in Borderlands 4, but the latest Borderlands game is also shaping up to be the most experimental one yet. Last month, I visited 2K's headquarters in Novato, California, and played a couple of hours of Borderlands 4. The more traditionally designed, Destiny-like open world structure stood out, but all of the new movement options available during combat were also a real game-changer. The over-the-top humor and the number of legendary drop have both been drastically reduced, which gives Borderlands 4 a slightly different feel than Borderlands 3. All of this makes Borderlands 4 feel different than what has come before, but ultimately just as appealing. Gliding around Kairos Borderlands 4 completely leaves Pandora behind and takes place on a new planet called Kairos, which was ruled by a tyrant called The Timekeeper. His reign was disrupted when Lilith teleported the Pandora moon of Elpis near it at the end of Borderlands 3. Borderlands 4 picks up later as a new batch of vault hunters explore Kairos, fight The Timekeeper, and eventually save Lilith. This new setting allows Borderlands 4 to take on a more open-world structure with dynamic events and an emphasis on exploration. That seems to be working to the game's benefit so far. Recommended Videos Borderlands 4's comic book art style is as vibrant as ever, and the Fadefields area of Kairos feels more colorful than any area I've visited in a Borderlands game before. According to Art Director Adam May, the Fadefields area was intentionally designed to be quite vibrant, although players will explore more darkly colored areas as the adventure progresses. 'It is the most expansive Borderlands we've ever made, so we start you off early in some place that looks bright and beautiful so that you can dive into those darker, creepier spaces as you progress through the world,' May tells Digital Trends. While I don't think Borderlands 4 will revolutionize open-world game design, its new structure gives it a feel that's more similar to Destiny 2, especially now that players have a vehicle they can spawn at almost any time. The more impactful benefit that comes from this shift in design is that players now have significantly more traversal options at their disposal. I constantly found myself using the new double jump and jet pack to float in mid-air and get an edge in a firefight. Those systems, plus a grappling hook, allow Borderlands 4 to embrace verticality in a way the games have never been able to before. This was on full display during a boss fight in a vault I fought through, as the fight at the end of it required me to damage the boss from above and constantly grapple up to higher platforms. May admits this did come with some art design challenges, but also allowed Gearbox to play into the vast scale of Kairos. 'The glide especially is super troublesome if I'm trying to set up big, cool vistas where you want the player to go look out and witness everything,' May says. 'The problem is, if you can glide all the way across that area, you have to push everything back. So we did, and I had to focus on bigger, outside the gameplay space where vistas are big and massive, implying there is even more world because Kairos is a place we want to be able to explore further.' Making More Vault Hunters I think it'll be hard for me to go back and play previous Borderlands games once Borderlands 4 comes out, specifically because combat now has such a smooth, movement-focused flow to it. I also really like all the Vault Hunters introduced this time around. May walked me through the design process for Vault Hunters, explaining that each one is designed to offer some sort of fantasy fulfillment and appeal to a different kind of person. The art team went as far as to bring character concept designs around the offices at Gearbox to ask which ones people like the most. 'I feel like we've done a good job if we go through it and, depending on the group of people that I'm talking to, I get a different answer every time,' May says. There's still some unpredictability when it comes to Vault Hunter popularity, with May claiming that characters marketing and production think are least likely to be popular, like Zer0, often end up becoming fan favorites. At launch, Borderlands 4 will offer four new Vault Hunters to choose from. I got to play as two of them: the Siren Vex and the Exo-Soldier Rafa. I ended up preferring Rafa's more offensive abilities, which allows players to slash through enemies with blades or shoot them with even more bullets from shoulder-mounted turrets. Vex is no slouch, though, as her ability to spawn a powerful cat named Trouble or decoys of herself is incredibly useful during a firefight and doesn't quite feel like the play styles of any of the Borderlands sirens who have come before. May hyped up Amon, a beefy Forge Knight that I was not able to play during my time with Borderlands 4. 'I always like the big skull crusher guys, so artistically, a giant Viking-like character, I was super stoked about. He's kind of like a mix between a space biker and a Viking,' May says. 'This is the most interestingly diverse group of people we've ever had in our Vault Hunter lineup, so I'm interested to see when it comes out which one is actually people's favorite.' Showing some restraint These new Vault Hunters, gameplay tweaks, and locations Gearbox is introducing in Borderlands 4 are paying off so far. But just as it's showing innovation, Gearbox is also showing restraint in some key areas. For example, Legendary loot drops much less frequently than it did in Borderlands 3. I didn't obtain a single legendary item during my entire time playing the game. This made the more valuable drops I did find feel even more special, as I then eagerly equipped the new gun to see what parts of its abilities set it apart. Considering that Gearbox has increased the number of weapon manufacturers and now lets weapons feature parts from several different manufacturers, there's bound to be a lot more depth and variety on the weapons front that's not undercut by overly frequent Legendary gear drops. One area where I have more mixed feelings is in Gearbox's approach to humor in Borderlands 4. Retrospectively, Borderlands 3's humor and villains are widely considered annoying even by Borderlands standards. May tells me that Gearbox drastically wants to dial things back in Borderlands 4 in order to make this a more serious adventure. 'A lot of the feedback we've gotten on Borderlands 3, we had that feedback internally. Sometimes it's hard to see the forest for the trees, and as we were developing, things started to shift and change. By the time we got to the end of development, there were things that got a little bit off track tonally. A lot of the dark, black humor we wanted to bring back. In general, we want our games to be classic and enjoyable regardless of when we play them, so we didn't want to have too many things linked to memes or real-world events and instead focus it on the world of Borderlands.' I am worried Gearbox overcorrected a little too hard on the comedy front. During my time with Borderlands 4, I didn't find one joke very funny. Sometimes, comedic bits were non-existent; other times, jokes like a militia leader being overly wholesome to the point of annoying his cohorts, just didn't land that well. Those who prefer a lack of jokes to cringeworthy humor may appreciate this shift, but I have a feeling I'll be playing Borderlands 4 because of its silky-smooth gameplay rather than its storytelling, characters, or jokes. I don't need Borderlands to show comedic restraint; the abrasiveness is part of the charm for me. Even if I'm not completely embracing Borderlands 4's shift in humor, I can appreciate that Gearbox is taking a risk and changing a core part of the series like that. While I'm sure that players would've been happy with Borderlands 4 just offering more linear areas to loot and shoot in alongside some new hunters, Gearbox is making big strides in its approach to world design, character movement, and more in a way that feels ambitious. Borderlands 4 still feels like Borderlands, but there's a good chance this will be the best version of that formula. Borderlands 4 launches on September 12 for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch 2.
Business Mayor
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Business Mayor
Is Borderlands 4 cross-platform?
There are only a handful of games we can confidently say are even close to being as fun to play in co-op as the Borderlands games. Some like Split Fiction come to mind, but there's something special about getting your pals together and running around Pandora as your favorite Vault Hunters. Borderlands 4 is the newest entry in the franchise that began in 2009, and the big question isn't about the story, the guns, or the characters, but cross-platform support. Normally, we would just assume this game would have it, but Borderlands 3 didn't launch with any cross-platform support and only got it after several updates. We traveled to Pandora and back to bring you the definitive answer on whether Borderlands 4 is cross-platform or not. 2K Games Yes, Gearbox has finally learned its lesson and Borderlands 4 will launch with full cross-platform support. During the official gameplay deep dive, Gearbox Entertainment officially confirmed that Borderlands 4 will allow players on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC to team up in this epic looter shooter adventure, stating, 'Thanks to our improved lobby system, it's easier than ever to join up with your friends on the fly. And with full cross-play at launch, you can play with your friends on any platform.' Not only that, but Borderlands 4 will also support crossplay on the Nintendo Switch 2. The game will still have the option for two people to play together in local split-screen co-op, but online crossplay will allow you to form a full team of four vault hunters. While there has been no word specifically on cross-progression, we suspect it is going to be included as well. That feature never made it to the past game, and Gearbox must be aware of how much we and the rest of the community want the ability to take our character from one platform to the next without having to start from scratch. Once we know for sure one way or the other on cross-progression, we will keep you and this article updated.
Associated Press
11-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Associated Press
A New Era for Motion Capture Has Arrived: Vicon to Launch its Markerless Motion Capture Technology at GDC
After years of Research & Development and an expansive beta program with some of the biggest names in VFX, Vicon's Markerless solution will empower creative and previsualization teams to bring ideas to life with greater speed and ease than ever before OXFORD, United Kingdom, March 11, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Motion capture leader, Vicon, today announced it will launch its highly anticipated Markerless Motion Capture solution next week at the Game Developer Conference (GDC) in San Francisco. The launch follows an immersive exhibition of the Vicon Markerless prototype at SIGGRAPH 2023. The technology was extensively beta-tested via Vicon's Visual Effects (VFX) Pioneer Program, through which the VFX and virtual production communities had the opportunity to discover, understand and define how markerless motion capture could be applied in their industries. Beta participants included Industrial Light & Magic, Gearbox Entertainment, Dimension | DNEG360, Dreamscape Immersive, Framestore Pre-production Services and others. The culmination of those efforts will be the general availability of Vicon Markerless for VFX on March 19. Maximizing Creative Iteration Vicon Markerless is built on 40 years of experience building high-fidelity motion capture solutions for industry leaders in media, entertainment, engineering and life sciences. It completely transforms rapid creative iteration by allowing users to instantly visualize ideas for better creativity early on. Vicon's markerless system comprises a new markerless motion-tracking camera ('Vanguard') and new software incorporating advanced computer vision, machine learning and proven algorithms to capture human performance without markers ('Shōgun Markerless' and 'Shōgun Post'). 'Vicon's Markerless Motion Capture is like magic – providing Gearbox incredible flexibility and speed in the development and storytelling of our games,' said Randy Pitchford, founder and president of Gearbox Entertainment. 'Anyone of us at Gearbox, including me, can quickly jump into our Vicon Markerless Motion Capture volume – even in our street clothes – to quickly get the data we need as we work to bring exciting potential future projects to life, including Borderlands.' 'Vicon Markerless, developed over several years with meticulous attention to detail, sets a new standard for motion capture across games, film, episodic TV and immersive experiences,' said Vicon CEO Imogen O'Connor. 'It enables VFX teams to rapidly refine early creative ideas and iterations marker-free and offers a seamless transition to optical motion capture as needed. Markerless motion capture opens up a world of possibilities for the VFX industry and delivers greater efficiency in creating innovative entertainment.' Pre-Visualization and Rapid Prototyping Without flexible and accessible options for previsualization, real-time discovery, location set-up, blocking, rehearsing and other use cases, studios are forced to rely on manual animation and full motion capture shoots with fewer iterations. With seamless pipeline and ecosystem integration, Vicon Markerless reduces time to visualization, enabling rapid iteration from prototyping and previsualization to real-time animation – even with props. Creative teams can quickly explore ideas marker-free and transition efficiently to full optical motion capture when required. 'The new markerless system from Vicon has significantly accelerated our creative process, enabling us to reach results faster,' said Ben Kolakovic, Virtual Production Operations Manager at Industrial Light & Magic, a beta participant. 'We now receive mocap data much more quickly than before, which allows our artists to experiment with new ideas in a fraction of the time. This streamlined workflow not only fosters creativity but also enhances our ability to iterate efficiently and fine-tune performances.' Vicon Markerless integrates seamlessly into existing Vicon optical motion capture pipelines and increases team efficiency with a single ecosystem across calibration, capture and data cleaning pipelines. See What Markerless Can Do For You Vicon welcomes GDC attendees to visit booth #S335 during expo hours March 19-21. To pre-schedule a meeting at the show, please email [email protected]. For those not attending the show, please visit to learn more. About Vicon Established in 1984, Vicon is an award-winning, leading provider of tailored motion capture systems for the life sciences, media and entertainment, location-based virtual reality, and engineering industries. Vicon's pioneering motion capture technologies push the traditional definition of the term and enable the capture and analysis of all kinds of motion, whatever the modality: optical, inertial or markerless. Vicon has worked with a large range of global clients in the entertainment industry, including Dreamworks, Byte Dance, Electronic Arts (EA), EPIC Games, Industrial Light and Magic (ILM), Lux Machina, Pearl Abyss, Sony, Square Enix, Ubisoft, Warner Bros and many more. Vicon is a subsidiary of Oxford Metrics (LSE:OMG), the smart sensing and software company servicing life science, entertainment, engineering and smart manufacturing markets. Media Contact:
Yahoo
12-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Borderlands 4 Finally Gets A Release Date And It's Before GTA 6
The fall release calendar for 2025 is finally beginning to take shape. Borderlands 4 is the first into the breach with a launch planned for September 23. With Grand Theft Auto 6 also planned for a fall release, the window is rapidly closing for the year's other major blockbusters to find a spot. The Borderlands 4 release date was announced by Gearbox Entertainment head Randy Pitchford in Wednesday's PlayStation State of Play alongside a trailer showing off more of the game's combat, including a bunch of dual-wielding loadouts and powers. We still don't know much about the sci-fi sequel's story or new mechanics and quality-of-life features, but it continues to look like it's very much offering the tried-and-true looter shooter formula that fans always show up for. The lack of new details is probably because Borderlands 4 is getting its own dedicated State of Play showcase later in the year. Until then, fans can mull over the meaning of the previously revealed Timekeeper boss and how past Borderlands games, including the Pre-Sequel, will feed into the latest entry on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. I'm not being dramatic when I say that Borderlands is the only game with a firm fall 2025 release date so far. Other studios and publishers have seemingly been playing a waiting game around precisely when GTA 6's release date, which is currently slated for sometime between the end of September and the end of December, will get announced. There's been no new news about the game since its late 2023 trailer, but parent company Take-Two has been adamant that the game isn't getting delayed. Now that we know Borderlands 4's release date, it seems like a good bet that GTA 6 will hit sometime in mid-to-late October. Good luck to everything else coming out that month. . For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
