Gearbox creative director Paul Sage — How we made Borderlands 3

It’s been a long journey for Borderlands 3. Borderlands 2 shipped in 2012, and fans naturally thought that Borderlands 3 would be coming soon after that, Gearbox Is Hosting A Livestream On Borderlands 3

But it didn’t come. Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel shipped in 2014. But fans — who have scooped up 43 million copies of the previous games — have been patient. The title is now slated to ship on September 13 on Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Google Stadia. We played the game at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), the big trade show in Los Angeles, and we had a conversation with one of the leaders on the project.

When Paul Sage arrived on the project as a creative director four years ago, he had simple marching orders. He had to respect the franchise, and he had to take the next game to different planets beyond Pandora. The team has delivered on the latter one — with a planet named Eden-6 — as it has a swampy, bayou-like landscape for one of the scenes.

The project’s ambitious. The team switched engines and made the graphics better. Borderlands 2 was built on Unreal Engine 3, with heavy modifications by the Borderlands team. Borderlands 3 is being built on Unreal Engine 4. They worked on improving combat and co-op play. And they created a couple of new villains with the Calypso Twins.

Fingers crossed, it will turn out well. Sage just hopes that player expectations stay under control.

GamesBeat: How long have you been on the franchise?

Paul Sage: I actually started with Gearbox four years ago. I went right into working on Borderlands 3.

GamesBeat: Were you at the Game Developers Conference 2019 when the studio revealed it?

Sage: Yeah, that was when we were up there with Epic and the Unreal engine. That was the first little bitty hint of a look. I was there. I want to say that might have been two years ago? Maybe a bit more, two and a half?

GamesBeat: What drew you to Borderlands?

Sage: I was a big fan of Borderlands 2. My son and I got to play Borderlands 2 together, and that was one of the things that made me really like this franchise. There was an opportunity, and that was a big thing for me. Being a fan and then coming to work on the game.

GamesBeat: Where were you before?

Sage: I worked on Elder Scrolls Online. I was the creative director of that game.

GamesBeat: Was there an agenda set up for you when you arrived or was it a matter of coming up with the inspiration yourself?

Sage: They were really great to me. I think the one or two mandates I had — one of them was going to different planets, and then another one, which was just unspoken, was to respect the franchise. But then my goal — I was really interested in making this the best cooperative experience that any Borderlands game ever had. As I say, I played with my son. That was really important to me. That’s how we got level syncing in the game, instanced loot in the game.