‘Borderlands 3’ Release Date, Latest News, Update: Randy Pitchford’s Explanation About EGS Exclusivity Angered Gamers Further

For years, the gaming community – particularly those who have a penchant for shootings games – have been patiently waiting for “Borderlands 3.” This isn’t surprising since the second entry proved to be quite the hit, offering unique weapons and engaging battle mechanics.

“Borderlands 3” was poised to surpass its predecessor’s popularity after the trailer dropped earlier this month. That is until Gearbox announced that the game will be exclusive in the Epic Games Store for the first six months after its launch.

Following this reveal, the gaming community was quick to turn against “Borderlands 3,” 2K, Gearbox, and CEO Randy Pitchford. In response, Pitchford took to Twitter to explain why 2K decided to go down this route. (The lengthy explanation has been compiled in this Reddit post.)

To put briefly, Pitchford’s point was that competition between EGS and Steam is good for the gaming economy since it will break the latter’s virtual monopoly. By having “Borderlands 3” an exclusive in EGS, it essentially sends a message to Steam to give publishers and developers more competitive revenue shares for a particular title.

That’s the side of 2K. The other argument is that EGS lacks certain features that are present in Steam, with this image the go-to response whenever this discussion pops up on the web. The community has also taken their frustration on the predecessor of “Borderlands 3” as they bombed the review of the second entry.

Gamers have also expressed their ire by disliking the trailer of the first-person shooter and taking to the comment section to voice their negative opinion. So is this hate over “Borderlands 3” being exclusive in EGS for six months justified? In some ways it is, but some aspects of it have been blown out of proportion.

Some players are even saying that they will pirate “Borderlands 3” if 2K doesn’t change its decision. Hopefully, EGS can implement significant features before Sept. 13 so some of the ire of the community can be alleviated. However, it looks like the hate has never been about the lack of important features but about the questionable practices of Tencent, Epic’s investor.