The ex-Borderlands team has started work on a new, independent project.

Gearbox Software recently saw several of its developers quit the company, and we aren’t talking about heavily underpaid interns, rookies, or anything of the sort. According to Axios, the departing people have internally announced about two weeks ago that they are quitting Gearbox and that they have been working on another project that was in its pre-production (pre-development) phase.

Let’s see the list of departures: Christopher Brock (the senior producer for the Borderlands franchise), Keith Schuler (the lead mission designer), Scott Kester (the art director), and they have worked at Gearbox for over a decade. Other departures include Paul Sage (the creative director of Borderlands 3), Chris Strasz (the director of the user experience or UX for short), and Kevin Penrod (the lead character artist).

According to Randy Pitchford, the head of Gearbox, the departure is „on the best of terms” and „will cause minimal disruption in [the company’s] current plans.” The studio is now focused on finishing Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, and it’s progressing nicely.

Another source from within Gearbox claims that the departures represent the exiting of „the studio’s old guard,” which caused excitement within the studio now that „fresh blood” will be taking over as project leaders. About two years after the launch of Borderlands 3, it somewhat makes sense. And this game, according to Axios, likely allowed the devs to collect royalties on the game.

The ex-Gearbox members (seven of them!) have started a new project, but this studio doesn’t have a name yet (or if they do, it isn’t public yet), and we also don’t know what kind of game they will create. We will likely hear from them shortly, as they seem to have been prepared to quit from Gearbox.

Also, we wonder when Embracer Group, the owner of Gearbox, will assign Pitchford to make Borderlands 4, which will likely be different from the previous titles in the series.

Source: PSL