Gearbox and 2K Games have revealed that they are reviving the Tales from the Borderlands series. The narrative adventure based on Gearbox’s Borderlands games was originally created by Telltale Games, but will now be written and developed by the team at Gearbox headquarters.
Details about the new game are scant, but Gearbox has spent the last few years integrating characters from Tales from the Borderlands into the original Borderlands games. In the lead-up to Borderlands 3, it released a downloadable expansion for Borderlands 2 that reintroduced Vaughn, a character from Tales from the Borderlands voiced by TV host Chris Hardwick. Vaughn and other Tales characters would then be key fixtures of Borderlands 3.
(The allegations of sexual abuse against Hardwick were not addressed by Gearbox during that time).
An additional tweet from Gearbox states that the game will feature a “new adventure” with “new characters.” That may mean actors like Hardwick or other members of the original cast may prominently appear in this new title.
Tales from the Borderlands proved to be one of Telltale Games’ most critically accomplished releases, though its commercial success apparently never rose to the level of Telltale’s The Walking Dead. In 2017, former creative director Nick Herman told Campo Santo Quarterly Review that inside the company, the series was perceived as “a failure.”
In that same oral history produced by Camp Santo, producer/exceutive producer noted that the team hoped after the series’ conclusion that Gearbox could begin using them for games like Borderlands 3 “and beyond.”
Though there is much to be excited about the series’ revival, it’s also tough news for developers who lived through the collapse of Telltale Games (or at least saw many of the tumultuous conditions that led to its downfall). Developers speaking to Campo Santo noted that the game succeeded in spite of those tough conditions.
A new holding company would later emerge with the name Telltale Games, and begin working on new projects using the company’s licensed IP.
After the company’s collapse, 2K Games did swoop in to ensure the series would remain purchasable on Steam and other platforms.