Borderlands 4’s creator says the game’s development budget more than doubled compared to the last entry, but he still doesn’t know how much it’ll sell for—raising concerns across the player base.

Borderlands 4 is shaping up to be Gearbox’s boldest project in the looter-shooter genre to date: massive open-world maps with no loading screens, a reworked weapons system, and elusive legendary loot designed to answer long-standing criticisms of Borderlands 3. Fans are hyped for what’s next in the FPS franchise, especially after hearing how much money the studio has invested into making it a reality.

But one crucial detail remains unknown—even to the game’s creators: its price. At a PAX East panel, Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford admitted he doesn’t know how much Borderlands 4 will cost when it launches this September. He didn’t dismiss the possibility of an $80 price tag, pointing to games like Mario Kart World and upcoming Xbox titles that have recently seen price hikes. Pitchford said that today’s industry faces “astronomical budgets,” making pricing a tricky issue.

Will Borderlands 4 Be $80?

According to Pitchford, Borderlands 4 cost “more than twice” as much to develop as Borderlands 3. “I’ll tell you the truth. I don’t know. That’s the truth. I’m just being real. It’s a weird time. On one hand, we’ve got a competitive marketplace where decision-makers want to sell as many units as possible and must consider price-sensitive consumers. Even some of the people setting prices don’t want to raise them.”

“On the other hand, there’s the reality: game development costs are rising, and physical production adds more fees. Things are getting complicated. Honestly, I don’t know what the final price will be. What we do know is that we want people to buy it, so we can keep making games, and we want every player to feel like they got more than what they paid for. We’ll know the price soon – that’s up to the publisher.”

Source: 3djuegos