Gearbox Panel Reveals Borderlands Cap Increase, New Brothers In Arms, Duke Details

Yes, it was only two days ago when news broke that 2K and Gearbox are bringing back the Duke, but that isn’t all that the seasoned developer is up to. During a panel at PAX, we got the scoop on what else the studio is currently working on.

Starting out with a tongue-in-cheek video look behind the scenes at Gearbox, Randy Pitchford and Mikey Neumann detailed their current project, Borderlands 3, which is evidently a sequel to Borderlands 4.

Joking aside, Pitchford and Neumann touched on the recently announced fourth DLC pack, Claptrap’s New Robot Revolution, which hits September 28 on PSN, PC, and Xbox Live.

Additionally, the pair revealed that an update is on the way. The update will rebalance the original game to take into consideration the DLC level cap increase, which now sits at 61. If you never picked up the DLC and missed the subsequent level boost, those eleven levels, plus an additional eight, will become available with the launch of the update. This will raise the current character cap to 69. The update is slated to hit around September 28, near the launch of Claptrap’s Revolution.

Moving onto other properties, Gearbox also announced that they are working on a new Brothers in Arms, although they aren’t ready to talk about it just yet.

Pitchford also touched on Aliens: Colonial Marines: “Our commitment is unfaltering," said Pitchford. "We're going to make this awesome. I promise it won't take longer to develop than Duke Nukem Forever."

Good to know. Pitchford flipped through some screens, and while you’ll have to take our word for it, they were looking fantastic.

Bringing things back to Duke Nukem Forever, Pitchford mused that he owes his career to Duke since he started off in the industry working at 3D Realms.

"The game that will come out is 3D Realms' game,” continued Pitchford. "A lot of 3D Realms' employees didn't want the dream to die. They kept going out of their houses. I caught wind of this, and I knew our studio was in a position to help. You can't let Duke die. We bought the brand. We bought Duke Nukem,” concluded Pitchford.  "We're going to take care of him.”

Neumann then weighed in: "I was asked an interview question today. Could this have happened any other way? I said no. It's all Randy," pointing in his direction. "It’s all this guy."

Obviously an emotional moment for Pitchford, he started tearing up, and the entire Gearbox panel walked to his seat to give him a hug. Pitchford was without a doubt integral in keeping Duke from the grave. Hopefully come release day, gamers everywhere will have reason to be just as thankful.