The upcoming Borderlands movie might not have happened if it wasn’t for the spin-off narrative game Tales from the Borderlands, which gave Gearbox confidence that the universe could be more than just a looter shooter playground.
\Developed by Telltale Games and released in 2014, Tales from the Borderlands was a different game than all previously released Borderlands titles. It wasn’t a looter shooter focused on co-op FPS action, but instead, it was—like Telltale’s other games—a slower-paced, narrative-focused, point-and-click adventure game featuring new and old Borderlands characters. It was a big hit with not only Borderlands fans, but critics and non-fans, too. And this, according to Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford, helped give the team confidence that a Borderlands movie could work.
In a new interview with Polygon, Pitchford talked about how Telltale’s spin-off was an “experiment.”
“Tales from the Borderlands had no… it was not the gameplay of the mainline Borderlands games,” said Pitchford. “It was a storytelling medium, just interactive, and it was wildly successful. It was the highest-rated game series that Telltale ever did. And they worked on, you know, The Walking Dead and Batman; tons of other amazing things.”
Pitchford explained that this reaction “validated” the Borderlands universe, adding that after Tales launched, “the characters and the storylines [of Borderlands] were meaningful and resonated. So that was the other kind of thing that made me confident.”
A Borderlands movie opens the franchise up to everyone
The CEO of Gearbox also added that with Tales from the Borderlands, the studio dropped all the shooter mechanics and looter gameplay, and focused entirely on storytelling, and said ultimately, “it was very, very rewarding.”
However, while Pitchford agreed that people who “found” Tales loved it, he thinks a movie could reach a “wider audience.”
“To me, that was why [a Borderlands movie] is worth existing,” Pitchford told Polygon.
“Like, my mom loves me and is proud of me, but she doesn’t play my video games, the way they’re designed, you know,” said Pitchford. “Not because she doesn’t love me. She’s just into different stuff. I think all gamers have people in their lives like that. The movie helps.”
The Borderlands movie, which doesn’t look great, hits theaters on August 9. Hopefully, it’s better than all the trailers released so far.
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