Gearbox may have come out second best when pitting Battleborn against the behemoth that is Overwatch, but the company still has Borderlands under its belt - and development on the third entry in the popular FPS series is already ongoing.
Sadly, it doesn't look like Borderlands 3 will be coming to the Switch, though. Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford has stated on Twitter that although his company was in talks with Nintendo at one point, communication broke down and he feels that the Japanese firm has shifted its focus elsewhere:
Of course, there's still time for this situation to change. If Switch sells well and is as easy to develop for as has been stated, then we imagine that Pitchford and Nintendo could find themselves talking again pretty soon. However, for the time being at least, it seems that the Gearbox boss is feeling a little left out, which is worrying when you consider Nintendo's very real need to secure as much third party support for Switch as possible.
Would you like to see titles like Borderlands 3 on the Switch, or would you prefer third party games which play to the strengths of the platform? Let us know by posting a comment.
[source uk.ign.com]
Comments 179
More mistakes! I'm really starting to get mad at Nintendo as they seem to ruin any type of relationship that could benefit them.
This is a game I would most definitely buy Reggie! Are you reading this??? Or does it take away attention from 1st party games??
good, gearbox sucks
In all fairness playing borderlands 2 on the Vita was not a very nice experience but the Switch has a dedicated pro pad and gyroscopes ...it's a pity!
Here we go with well if this game isn't coming then that company sucks comments.
THE SWITCH NEEDS GAMES PEOPLE!!! THIS IS ONE OF THEM!!
Nintendo seems to have turned to mostly Eastern devs this time
One of many, sadly.
crap 😕 that's a huge mistake. I love Borderlands.
Stuff like this is why eventhough I expect Switch to be an original-Wii like success I can't see it replacing the PS4 and Xbox One as my primary consoles.
"Great third-party showing"
Hmm. Not good news. Even though I have zero interest in the game, it would definitely sell. What I really don't like about these kinds of statements is how unprofessional they sound.
"We were talking to Nintendo, but that stopped for some reason."
Get a better mobile phone then it won't drop out on you.
And so it begins.
Well ...that's Nintendo for you.
We're not hearing the full story here.
@Phin68 Look the industry change. These 3rd party devs especially western 3rd parties are garbage today. Most of them are mediocre games and over hype games. Indies are the new 3rd parties. That what keep ps4 alive today. Wii u had good indie support. If there were no indies on the Wii u than the wii u will have droughts every year. Even the PS4 will have droughts but remasters and indies save the PS4
There are some 3rd parties that are a bad sign for Nintendo that they don't have any major plans for the Switch.
Gearbox is not one of them. Especially with Randy Pitchford still leading it.
Oh God, no! The heavens will come falling down and now we are all doomed! Doomed I tell you, DOOMED! And so is the Nintendo Switch!!!
But seriously: remember all that BS with Randy Pitchford and Aliens Colonial Marines back when the Wii U had just launched? That was also Gearbox, and we all know how that turned out.
This time, they have no excuse so maybe, just maybe we ought to try and get the other side of this story instead of once again laying the blame at Nintendo's feet...
Randy Pitchford! Randy Pitchford is a terrible CEO. The guy defend aliens colonial marines. Tell Randy Pitchford what happened to battelborn.
@ThanosReXXX Randy Pitchford in the nutshell https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eG1q3X3HxeA
Maybe after the utter abomination they coughed up for sega in the form of alien marines, everybody is wise to take a wide birth from this sack of liars
Well we are talking about the people that butchered Duke and Aliens, steals design ideas from Blizzard, and a guy that thinks the movie Heat would make a great game. Nintendo brought Bethesda into the fold and eventually Activision Blizzard will be back. They have 2k sports so obviously their issue is with the studio.
Remember that Pitchford was SUPER enthusiastic to support the Wii U. What, exactly, did this enthusiasm translate into, you ask?
Well, there was the cancelled Wii U port of Aliens : Colonial Marines. Said port was, due to Pitchford's sheer enthusiasm, shifted mid-development to a completely unaffiliated developer, and his sheer enthusiasm caused said game to get cancelled after the PS3 and 360 versions of it released as steaming piles, in spite of the developer in question's interest in actually salvaging the Wii U version to make a half-respectable video game.
His words are about as cheap as brand new copies of Battleborn, and yet, considerably more fun to tear into than any video game he has ever put his name to.
Nice job getting the third-parties, Nintendo! (slowly claps)
Having a variety of games on a system is a great thing. A game not appearing on the Switch is bad news, regardless of whether or not I want to play it.
@Phin68 lol
@therealgamer But what about Gearbox? From what I've seen, the Borderlands property is a pretty big deal. It's a shame that Nintendo fans have to (yet again) miss out on great modern series like this one.
No clue what's the deal with that Pitchfork guy and Nintendo is, but I would love to play Borderlands on Switch. Hopefully one of the parties will wake up in time to revive the talks before the release
@crimsontadpoles unless it turns into a Steam situation and poorly made ports and games are crowding out Quality games. A little curation might be good for the system.
There's got to be more to this.Why would nintendo stop talking to them.
Say what you will about Gearbox, I want BL3 on Switch! Why, why, why on Earth is NoA not doing more to talk to devs, and why are Nintendo Japan acting as though Western developers don't offer loads of mass market appeal?
@therealgamer Yup, VERY true...
@Phin68 Randy Pitchford = Gearbox. The Tweet is his, so the BS surrounding Borderlands not coming to Switch is probably also his. You might want to check that video that @therealgamer posted in comment #20...
WiiU 2.0
we might see borderladns 3 on the switch, but if it's a wait and see, we'll likely see it a mllion years after it's been out on the other platforms first.
This should be a warning sign for Borderlands 3 honestly. 2k, not Gearbox, should be talking to Nintendo. Maybe Nintendo Life should ask Randy for clarification. Seems like 2k doesn't want to fit the bill for a Switch port and neither does Nintendo. They don't want another Devil's Third.
@blinder2
Sega and Nintendo has been friends for years. Maybe it has something to do what happened with Colonial Marines.
I'm mildly curious about Borderlands but I'd rather have the first game port so I could start the series (BL2 is on Vita and reportedly long patched; not sure if the pre-sequel can be bought separately from Handsome Collection for streaming). Otherwise, the FPS I'd really start saving up for after buying a bottle of champagne on a guaranteed announcement alone is Bioshock trilogy. One other first person game series I've been wanting to try seriously is Dishonored... and hey, isn't it published by Bethesda Softworks?
All that said, if the guy is willing, then here's hoping for these talks to resume someday.
@ThanosReXXX I don't really care about the kind of person he is. Randy Pitchford, regardless of his demeanor or practices, is a pretty reputable source. Plus, given Nintendo's uneven third-party relationships in the past, I have no reason to believe likewise.
Game doesn't come to Switch. Who cares, terrible game/company, we don't need it, blah blah blah.
Game comes to Switch. OMG, GOTY, Nintendo has nailed it, blah blah blah.
Same old fanboy nonsense.
I have very low hopes for western third parties supporting the Switch because let's be honest here,
Nintendo doesnt really cater much to western games or genres other than Ubisoft and their games like Rayman and Just Dance, and Nintendo has too much of a negative reputation around western third parties/gamers that it's going to be tough convincing them to support the Switch with quality games.
Again, I love the idea of Skyrim on the Switch but it's going to be a tough sell since its a 6 year old game and it releases on not launch, no, AUTUM 2017 when it should have been out on day 1 and if third parties see that Skyrim doesn't move any sales, most likely the worst sales Bethesda has ever seen, then everyone is going to assume it's because "third parties don't sell on Nintendo consoles" it's going to be the WiiU no games problem all over again.
I do have high hopes for Japanese third party support however and I do hope they will help the Switch sell well and laugh in other third parties and naysayers faces.
Wow, look at all the people attacking a person just because a game is not coming to their preferred console. Are you all 5 yrs olds?
for the love of god nintendo, why must you be arrogant pricks about it a game like this could show cynics of the system that it is getting support.
This isn't surprising. The Switch is less powerful than the PS4, XBO, and PC, so developers have to go through significant efforts to downgrade their games to run on it. The only way the Switch will get third party support is if it gets an extremely large install base. Unfortunately, the only way to get that is to produce a lot of great first party games, which Nintendo doesn't seem too keen on doing themselves so far.
@Syrek24 Right now it's hard to see big fish when little fish would do. I'm sure plenty of people would love to see Borderlands on the Switch. This just screams of Nintendo's relationship trends over the last 20 years.
Yes it could be on Gearbox and they just don't want to bother with Nintendo but Nintendo doesn't have a good track record with western developers.
@Yalaa
The Switch won't see such a fate as easily. Now sure it may end up getting very few major western third-party games but the difference this time is the system truly is a portable, and as such it's going to do extremely well in Japan. I don't think one person on this site would dare contest that prediction. As a result it will get all those games from Japanese developers that the 3DS got, which to be frank, helped make it the success it is. You already see it with games like Shin Megami Tensei and Dragon Quest. Once Monster Hunter comes, and it will come, this thing is gonna light up.
@Gamer83
Oh of course not, multi-console gamers like us could never just give up our third-party hubs, which are a strong backbone of steady incoming games.
Nonetheless, Switch is going to be a dope handheld and even as a console will offer a fair number of exclusives to complement everything else we play (I'm speaking for myself here, not assuming you're getting one). And it may not get much support from multiplats, but that's OK because that's what the other consoles are there for. But any that it does get I'll be grateful for, just for the portability. Even just Dragon Quest XI and Skyrim are a dream to have anywhere. And I gotta say, the idea of having a portable system with MP games like MarioKart or Splatoon (which now has local coop) and 2 controllers built in (one total, but can be used as two in a pinch) is really appealing. Just prop that baby up on it's kickstand wherever, whip out the controllers and hand one to a friend.
Shame. I have sunk hundreds of hours into the Borderlands games, awesome games to play with friends. Would be great to play them on a handheld but oh well
@ThanosReXXX I was gonna say the same thing. And that's not to say the guy is being dishonest or deceitful. But we don't know exactly what was said or discussed. For all we know, his priorities may have not been in line with Nintendo's and so from his POV, Nintendo were the unreasonable ones
@Syrek24 Well considering Nintendo's past history with 3rd parties and the fact the majority of them don't support Nintendo machines it's obvious there are issues on Nintendo's side.It might not be in this particular case but overall,the issue lies with Nintendo and they should be doing whatever they can to get as many of them as possible back on board.
@tudsworth
"His words are about as cheap as brand new copies of Battleborn, and yet, considerably more fun to tear into than any video game he has ever put his name to"
Ok I'm sorry, but that comment really did make me laugh lol
@Phin68 Okay true but its Gearbox not Nintendo fault
They have other priorities lol. Not shocked at all...
@DiscoGentleman I did address that a bit in my comment just above. As you can tell I'm just upset. Launching with what 4 to 5 games. Not a strong presence 3rd party wise at the reveal. Past relationships with Sony or EA. It just screams of Nintendo's arrogance since the nes/snes days. I've seen this company fall further and further behind for the last 20 years with one exception and that was the Wii console wise.
@JaxonH "Just prop that baby up on it's kickstand wherever, whip out the controllers and hand one to a friend."
Funny you should say that. I was just thinking how Nintendo is selling the dock for $90 and the non-charging Grip for $15, both in the $299 bundle. If they did take the dock and grip out of the box and sold a SwitchGo for $199, is there anything you can see it not doing? You said yourself it would sell in Japan b/c it's portable, how much better would it sell at $199. Does it need TV out for any games I'm missing, or would everything work for $199 on the 720p screen and the 2 Joycon? Basically making it a 1 to 1 replacement for the 3DS? Then if people wanted they could buy a dock for $90 later.
This is what I was talking about earlier about them not making the effort. Japan doesn't need a dock, they love their Vita and 3DS, not the Xbox.
"I'd buy THAT for a dollar!" LoL.... sigh... no, seriously. I'd buy that for LOTS of dollars! Otherwise, It'll be PS4 or PC.
"...which is worrying when you consider Nintendo's very real need to secure as much third party support for Switch as possible."
No kidding. It doesn't even sound like it's a "power issue," hopefully Nintendo figures out its fans would want to play games like this on Switch. Imagine how cool it would be to play this on the go with console quality graphics. Vita owners would weep more than they already do because Nintendo fans would have this on the Switch.
@pandarino Borderlands 2 never should've even been a Vita game. Too demanding.
@JaxonH It's the absolute worst £4 you could ever spend on a video game. Even buying an NES game for the umpteenth time on the Wii U or 3DS is a considerably better investment
@Syrek24 I hope you're right. Still don't know what version of Skyrim we are getting yet though so that partnership remains questionable. It seems more like a trial for Nintendo. If it sells x amount of games say 250k then we will consider another.
@Spoony_Tech I prefer to believe Nintendo after Gearbox's history in the industry. Maybe they should post the correspondences between them and Nintendo in its entirety to see who cut off communications. Maybe Nintendo sees the risk Gearbox poses and would rather not deal with them. Nobody wants a half-baked game. I recall Devil's Third(Turd for those who despise it) being a pain in the neck to the point that Nintendo didn't even bother marketing it much. Seemed like an embarrassment
Question: who stopped talking really? He makes it sound like Nintendo, but then he also doesn't sound sure why it broke down. If he wanted to work on switch or with Nintendo he would have a better idea.
I'd love to have borderlands 3 on Switch - more games help. But the last one didnt hold up to 1or 2 either...
If it's not on Nintendo, then I likely won't be playing it.
As others have said, we don't know the full story. Why did they stop talking to them? Why doesn't the guy question them further on twitter?
Meh. I didn't really click with Borderlands anyway.
If you think about it, with the amount of lying Pitchford is known for, this could be the best possible sign for the Switch!
Jokes aside, why does it seem like every Nintendo system launches with so much negativity around it? I want a Nintendo system to launch and for me to not immediately worry it'll fail. Ugh.
If they ever do give a real reason and "console power" is behind it, we know it's rubbish because they managed to make Borderlands 2 run on PS Vita relatively well.
It's basically "We hate Nintendo".
@alasdair91
"managed to make Borderlands 2 run on PS Vita relatively well"
You're joking right? I own Borderlands 2 for the Vita and I have never in my life seen a game run worse. Aside from the 10 frames per second there's the worst texture pop-in I've ever seen (and that's just on the main menu!!!) The controls are absolutely trash with at least 4 to 6 commands mapped to different areas of the touch screen because there wasn't enough buttons. It was nearly impossible to play that game without your finger accidentally brushing the back of the touchpad constantly and triggering an unintended action or something.
I liked that game but I cannot play it on Vita. That is a shining example of exactly how not to port a game
@rjejr
While I acknowledge that is a very good idea, I think the idea is to sell it at full price first and then come down to lower-priced bundles later, not the other way around.
But yes halfway through the generation they could definitely do that. I always envisioned they would just make a handheld version of it with a clamshell design, maybe not with two screens but a clamshell design and small like a 3DS. For true portable form factor.
But this stuff is later. Later in the gen.
@ThanosReXXX Glad to see a few people here with some semblance of common sense. What exactly does he mean by communication breakdown? Considering how Nintendo was able to convince Bethesda to port Skyrim to Switch and EA to bring FIFA. I don't think they just told Gearbox to up theirs and dumped em. As a few others have said we aren't getting the full story here
If I was a game dev, and I sat waiting at the phone each day for a platform-holder to call me up so I could start working, I wouldn't expect to be in business for very long.
@Yalaa
Not only should Skyrim be there at launch, it should be the 'Special Edition' but from what I'm hearing it's just a straight port of the PS3, Xbox 360 version. If that's wrong, somebody please correct me, if not, it's a pretty missed opportunity and doesn't give me much hope for the Nintendo-Bethesda relationship going forward.
@Gamer83
Ya I'll link you screenshots,
Comparisons to the old version on PS3 and the remastered version on PC prove that it is indeed the remastered version and I've seen it with my own eyes. Give me a second I'll find it
@Gamer83
Here you go.
http://gearnuke.com/elder-scrolls-v-skyrim-nintendo-switch-vs-pc-comparison-confirms-improved-visuals/
Why did the conversation end? We know why.
@JaxonH
Thanks. That's good news.
Nintendo seems to be focused on making their system a eastern developer system. Also, Nintendo is strict, so I couldn't see a game like Borderlands coming to one of their systems. Face it, you want games like this, go with one of the other platforms.
@alasdair91 no, I'm pretty sure this time around its "Nintendo isn't interested in these kind of games on their systems"
And so the Dark Times begin again.
Switch needs these types of games alongside strong 1st party titles. The latter by itself will not suffice, as the Wii U has sadly proven.
At least Nntendo is consistent everyone. They talk big about the importance of third party support and then do all they can to mess it up. Keep up the good work Nintendo! Everyone trash talked the Wii U's launch line-up back in the day but boy doesn't it look amazing when compared to the whopping 4 games the switch will have at launch! Looks like they'll be SWITCHing to being a software only company much sooner than I thought.
@Grawlog
I feel like half a mil would've been real easy if it were a May launch after getting out of the Zelda and Mario Kart craze in March and April. If it's holiday it's going to be a tough sell with Super Mario Odyssey, and like you I'm sure many people already have bought the game somewhere. Maybe that ability to take on the go will sway enough people though. I plan on getting the Switch at some point (I've owned every Nintendo system, handheld or console, minus the Virtual Boy) and I'd love to see it get support from Bethesda as well as several of my other favorite companies. I'd still probably go with PS4 or Xbox One/Project Scorpio versions of certain games first, but with the portability factor, I wouldn't rule out a purchase on the Switch as well. I don't game outside my home very often but on the rare occasion I do go away, it's nice to have some video games with me.
Can we get the borderlands collection, plz?
@rjejr If they launched it without the dock then I doubt we would be seeing a game like Arms.It has the option for traditional controls in there and I'm sure it'll still be a fun game to play it that way on the tablet but it's clearly meant to be played on the big screen with motion control.Even if they had launched with 2 options,one with the dock/one without,Arms will be a tougher sell to those without the one.
@Grawlog
That's what I've been saying.
You know that console monster Hunter Capcom was referring to is a Switch game. Because they know the Switch is going to blow up in Japan just like 3DS did.
And if Nintendo is really lucky it'll blow up like the Wii. I can definitely see it happening- there's a lot of excitement for this console I've seen, in the real world, among normal people
@Phin68 I have no idea what him being a reputable source has to do with it. Fact is he has been spouting BS before about Nintendo and their console, and if you didn't know that already, then that video would have proved that to you. He even said that the Wii U version of Aliens Colonial Marines was going to be the best one, and in the end it never came...
He is a liar, a spin doctor and whatever he says is not to be believed unless we hear both sides of the story. And maybe the whole Colonial Marines debacle is why Nintendo doesn't want to talk to him anymore and they would have every right to, so maybe you should consider that to be an option before bending over for Pitchford and his "spotless" reputation...
@Spoony_Tech I don't think Reggie can take this type of decisions. He's not the president of Nintendo. No intention to defend him, but I think he has bosses.
Oh here we go again!
Yes, but Reggie could have influences his bosses in Japan to make the decision that's best for the console to succeed in the USA, that's what's he's in there for. It's a wonder Reggie is still there after the Wii U debacle.
@Mrclaycoat It's a good job then that one of those 4 titles will be one of the strongest launch games in any consoles history.Then we have MK8 the next month,Splatoon 2 likely the next,then Arms and E3 the next.If they can keep up with releasing games of that caliber every month then the sales will come with it and hopefully the 3rd party's too.Plus we've still to hear what Retro are up to,Sakurai,Next Level,Intelligent Systems,Monster Games etc plus whatever that exclusive game Ubsoft are supposedly working.Then there all the names on the list of confirmed developers.I wouldn't worry too much,it might seem like a slow start but by the end of the year the Switch will have a stellar line up.If it was to have launched for Xmas with only 4 or 5 titles then it might have been more damaging to the consoles chances of success but launching in March,they will enter the Xmas period with a fair sized library of games to promote.
@OorWullie I sure hope so, if this isn't a hit then Nintendo is pretty much done in the console market.
@ThanosReXXX To be fair, he isn't the only dev to back away from the Wii U despite making promises to (cough*SlightyMadStudios*cough). Besides, I doubt this kind of person would go back and promise one of his games was hitting a Nintendo system. More likely the opposite will occur.
@Spoony_Tech Here we go with the Spoony_Tech "well someone tweeted something bad about Nintendo so it MUST BE TRUE" nonsense. You must be kind of a gullible person, just based on how easily you're convinced by so little information. Just saying.
@DiscoGentleman Hey look at that, an actual reasonable person on this site! Thank you for existing, you magical unicorn of a gentleman.
People on this site would do well to not take everything they hear and read at face value, and to study up on Randy Pitchford before jumping to any conclusions on anything he ever says. He's not exactly a stable/unifying force in the industry, and he's never been accused of being too honest.
@JaxonH I don't see Switch having, say, 3DS levels of success in Japan though. 3DS (and DS before it) did not become the crazy successes they did because they offered AAA console gaming on the go. They were quick fixes to play on a commute or similar, and offered solid battery life too.
There is no mass market for Switch. There's a market for Switch, but I'm struggling to see how it matches even GCN numbers. Unless Nintendo suddenly pull some rabbit out of the hat between now and March and announces a whole bunch of Western third party support that they don't have at the moment, this thing is looking like another Wii U.
@gatorboi352
You're right, and I'm not really seeing western support having anything to do with it.
Anything that's portable sells in Japan (even more with Monster Hunter) whether you can fit it in your pocket or not. And I certainly don't think having console level graphics and hybrid play is going to hurt it's proposition to gamers in Japan.
But in the end it doesn't matter what your predictions are with my predictions are with the whole internets predictions are. Nothings going to change the future, so why waste time hashing out every possible scenario rather than just playing games and talking about games. That fails then it fails if it succeeds then it succeeds. Either way I'm going to be playing Zelda come launch day on my Switch. Either way I'm going to be playing some Mario Kart and Bomberman with my coworkers. And Redout and FAST ( cause I'm in F-Zero kind a guy).
All I need is a Monster Hunter, and that's pretty much a guarantee at this point.
@DiscoGentleman How true was the reveal though? There's still so many unanswered questions or for better terms unspoken answers. I've been waiting for Nintendo to blow the lid off a reveal since the 3ds. They hold too much back these days and feel if they drip feed us we will be happy enough. I fully expected them to come guns a blazing so to speak because they didn't have any other choice but I was quite bored the first half of that reveal. Things didn't pick up till Splatoon 2 and then got better. Those 3rd party devs and such didn't really show anything which is also a worry that we maybe looking at games released a year or 2 from now
I would really love games from EA but soccer isn't my thing. Strike one for me. Skyrim, while I want it seems more like a test run to see if the water is warm enough. I wanted to see what Retro is doing, news on Pikmin 4, UBISoft new games, and whatever else was down the road. I swear if Reggie mentions Metroid one more time without a game to show.......
Not sure how old you are but I think you've seen many a console Nintendo launch. Other then Wii and DS they've been on a steady decline since they choose to go with expensive cartridges for the N64 and have lost a lot of 3rd parties because of that and it's taken them too long to get them back.
If this fails then I don't think Nintendo makes another system ever again and goes strictly smart phone or Sony/X-box and it would be a sad day when that happens.
Once again sorry for the rant. If you were just a nobody I wouldn't have went to all that trouble lol to post this.
Why are we blaming Nintendo for this?
@Spoony_Tech At the same time Gearbox hasn't exactly been the most reputable developer (see definition for "not at all"). It goes both ways and frankly Gearbox itself is not a good example.
Bioware/EA would be a much better example since we haven't seen any good news regarding either Dragon Age or Mass Effect.
Nintendo likely got nervous that gearbox would steal money like they did with SEGA.
@Spoony_Tech The switch needs good games more than just games period.
@Spoony_Tech
I mean we really can't go "oh man evil Nintendo being a jerk to third parties" based in this one tweet. Relationships go two ways.
They did get Bethseda on board after all and they never even done anything for Nintendo before.
@Pikachupwnage and I'm excited about it too but I'm afraid it will be one game and they will then give us nothing afterwords because it won't sell well enough.
After 4 years of these articles... it begins again. Oh boy, and surely a bad omen
I hope their "other priorities" are pretty darn important.
@DiscoGentleman Sometimes you just have to say what you're going to say before you forget it lol. I do and go back and fix things later.
I think we can both agree I'm upset because I care too much maybe and you were right about my expectations. I expected much more talk about what's coming then as long as they took to show both the system and 1 2 Switch and Arms.
I won't even go into their prices for a lot of things but I can agree on the price of 299.99 because they want to make a profit I get that. I see only 4 games at present I even want all this year on the Switch and one of those I can get on the Wii U.
This is lacking too much information. You have one side saying one thing, and it makes it sound as if they asked Nintendo for permission to develop the game and Nintendo said NO. It obviously can't be that simplistic.
Exactly what was the issue?
@Kalmaro yes you are right, they need good games of which I think and millions more think Borderlands is one of them. Are there better games, sure but the likes of this coming can only help what looks like a pretty bleak launch and so far rest of the year.
@j-life last I seen Nintendo doesn't say no to anybody. They had enough shovelware on the Wii U e shop as it was but everyone is right and it is one sided. I doubt we will ever see the other side though but it would be interesting what that side was.
Well you win some, you lose some. It's not the end of the world.
@rjejr This is the last time I'm taking over for you lol. This is hard work and takes up too much of my time. 😉
And it looks like Nintendo didn't learn anything from the Wii U. They are going to F up the Switch just like the Wii U. I wonder what are the Nintendo fanboys are going to do when Nintendo goes out of business soon?
I would blame Nintendo, but this is Randy Pitchford. He's not telling the full story
I think referring to Battleborn as "second best" versus Overwatch is being extremely generous, considering Battleborn is dead AF right now. Like... it's buried in it's casket so deep underground that it's keeping company with the core of the Earth, dead AF. Someone who makes decisions at Nintendo probably saw that and said to themselves, "Hmmm, maybe this Pitchford guy isn't all he's cracked up to be..."
Or they just don't want to risk another Aliens: Colonial Marines type of scandal.
Why announce games that are not coming to SWITCH? How is this Nintendo news?
Not a big loss, given we are dealing with Randy "watch me trying to screw over my dev partner for A:CM, Sega, to bolster my budget for my own IPs and not get caught" Pitchford.
@hYdeks hmmm house of the dead over kill was on Wii.bayonata 1, and 2.very Bad language
@rjejr I suspect a SKU with just the JoyCons, mobile stand and charger, and without the dock or Grip, will appear at some point in the future. There's no reason why that can't be done. I'm actually kind of surprised it's not one of the launch SKU options.
Honestly, I haven't enjoyed any of their games I've played, so.... no big loss for me.
@PtM aka Randy "watch me how I make a fool out of myself in PAX2016" Pitchford
S. M. H..
...I didn't even notice they were making Borderlands 3...
FACT: Some of Gearbox games are quite enjoyable, specially the Borderlands series, which, in my opinion, will have been a perfect fit for Nintendo fans, due to the humor the series is renowned for.
FACT: Gearbox and Nintendo had a conversation regarding bringing Gearbox's games to the Switch. There was some kind of fallout.
FACT: the CEO of Gearbox twitted about it.
(Almost, for sure) FACT: Nintendo won't bother to tweet back or give a call to Gearbox's CEO in other to pursuit a more amicable understanding, nor we'll get some kind of explanation from Regis until the next Nintendo console comes about.
Yup wii u all over again. I was so hopefully that we would get all these third party announcements at the reveal. We got close to nothing. There is like five billion fps being made at the moment. Nintendo couldn't attract one,not one, to the switch. How crazy is that? I'm not looking for these games on my nintendo console,would be nice though. The thing I am looking at though is how the switch could possibly be perceived as having great third party support when none of these games are coming our way. Well at least he didn't say the switch couldn't handle it.
@whanvee They didn't show everything on January 12th. They're gonna reveal more in the coming weeks and at E3. If the first year still doesn't look good after E3, then yeah, the Switch might be in trouble. However, it's still too early to say that we're getting another Wii U.
There's a lot of negativity here over nothing. The system isn't doomed over this at all. Now if it was Aliens Colonial Marines then it would be doomed lol. That should've been a sign for sure. The Switch will do fine with or without this game. Perhaps it IS in the works and this was meant to throw us off. Afterall, Nintendo and third party devs have been quite coy about announcements as of late.
I don't see myself playing Borderlands 3 on any platform.
Nintendo needs every third party they can get.
But i think they come around.
Switch already has many games in development. And the Switch will be sold out from day one. So yeah they will come around. The switch is just Genius
Communications just stopped for "some" reason? Methinks some details are being left out.
Even though I've never found the borderlands franchise appealing it's unfortunate the discussions fell through. I think the more variety they offer in games on the Switch the better it will be for everybody...
I enjoyed Borderlands (haven't played the second one), so this is a real shame.
With that being said, outside of the Borderlands franchise, Gearbox hasn't done very well as a development studio. Aliens CM was a trainwreck, and Battleborn is dead thanks to Overwatch.
I thought borderlands was boring
@Phin68 I think what needs to be noted about Randy Pitchford is that he has & will lie directly to people's faces & then continue to lie about them on camera even if it contradicts what he has said before. If it made himself sound good & someone else sound bad.. Pitchford will say it.
Someone can work for a company that makes great games & not be a good person. There is no disconnence.
Please nintendo, just get your act together. We want Western games on this friggin system.
It begins.
Feel free to add a certain pair of letters before the previous sentence.
The question is well other dev's follow suit? take your bets now.
I can't see why Nintendo would stop them from producing it for the Switch. Sounds like a excuse to cover up their laziness.
Well most people who will be switching won't be buying it for games like this anyway, so it's no real lose.
Such a huge shame, aside from being great games they have a huge following. this would of been an excellent game to add to the switch library. Nobody will ever know the details but this seems like another huge mistake by Nintendo and its infuriating.
@Phin68 All true, but that doesn't clear him from any suspicion concerning the current situation. He says Nintendo "suddenly" stopped communicating with him, and all I am saying is that there is more than likely more to it than that, and it could very well have something to do with the Aliens debacle on the Wii U...
Lmao this is Wii U all over again.
Good luck getting another Nintendo system with no support, you bunch of delusional fanboys.
@LegendOfPokemon I want third parties, not third rate.
@Yasume Oh no, without Gearbox, the most hated game company, Nintendo are dooooòòmed!
@KirbyTheVampire even though the Wii U has the 10 best games imo in its lifespan.
@MadAdam81 You're a fanboy, I assume? Everything we know so far tells us this is going to fail:
32 GB internal storage.
Do you want me to go on? This thing has no chance on the market in this day and age. Open your eyes.
Would love to have seen this game come to the Switch but i can understand why Nintendo puts more priorities on other companies.
Especially if you take the history between the two companies as gearbox in the 15 years they have existed only made 4 games for Nintendo systems.
@Yasume I'm guessing the fact that lots of people are preordering the Switch means nothing? Yes in your opinion it's not enough. But your opinion isn't law.
Gearbox is a bad studio but with that said, why didnt you make it work somehow Nintendo? Switch is the product to decide you sink or swim, stop being so picky. Make it work! Also BL series are big sellers so just do it!
"but that stopped for some reason. They have other priorities."
I'm sorry but this sounds very fishy! Do you guys really believe in this passive-agressive excuse?
I enjoyed playing Borderlands 2 quite a bit, it was a lot of dumb fun. Which reminds me that I haven't finished it yet... If B3 is like B2 and the problem is really just "They have other priorities", this is not a very good sign.
@MadAdam81 I'm just stating the facts, it's not a matter of opinion. You just refuse to take those fanboy glasses off.
Lots of people pre-ordered the Wii U too, btw. Ever heard of resellers?
Just wait the results and you'll see for yourself in a couple of months though.
@ThanosReXXX
Hi, Had been trawling through all the comments looking for your views on the switch news but hadn't really seen anything. What did you make of it all?
@Syrek24 you make a good point, I love Nintendo ive already preordered the switch on the first day. I think i just wrote that comment with a bit of rage.
Me neither. It isn't really a game for Switch
I'm still waiting for Aliens on Wii U, the best looking version.
That's a shame. Nintendo shouldn't be burning bridges with 3rd party developers (if that would be the case here).
Yes, Nintendo is DOOMED! We're not getting Borderlands, with a company that already has a crap record with getting games on Nintendo systems!
In the meanwhile, I'll be waiting for the Tales series support that was confirmed yesterday by Namco Bandai that no one seems to remember, unfortunately.
For everyone moaning about how this is the death of the Switch and how it doesn't have any games coming early on etc etc - here are the PS4 launch titles from the US. Other than a few annual multi-platform release type games like FIFA, Assassin's Creed and Call of Duty there was very little of interest and very few exclusives (basically Flower and Killzone). I think people often forget how weak many console launch line-ups are. It is likely that the Call of Duty, Lego, Assassin's Creed and Need for Speed games will come to Switch, so what did PS4 have that was so special? Battlefield 4?
Angry Birds Star Wars
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
Battlefield 4
Blacklight: Retribution
Call of Duty: Ghosts
Contrast
DC Universe Online
FIFA 14
Flower
Injustice: Gods Among Us - Ultimate Edition
Just Dance 2014
Killzone Shadow Fall
Knack
Lego Marvel Super Heroes
Madden NFL 25
NBA 2K14
Need for Speed Rivals
Resogun
Skylanders: Swap Force
Sound Shapes
Super Motherload
The Playroom
Trine 2: Complete Story
Warframe
@Spoony_Tech Launch seems fine to me, and thanks to region locking being gone, can import stuff finally.
Are these the people behind Duke Nukem Forever and Aliens Colonial Marines? Oh yeah we really need to fill up the library on the Switch with developers of that calibre...damn you Nintendo!
https://levelskip.com/misc/Worst-Video-Game-Companies
@KirbyTheVampire
The build up to the launch started this way. That's mostly what I meant. A bunch of third parties started complaining about the system and withdrawing their support leading up to launch. I remember being pretty bummed about the whole situation. Especially after the wii u was praised by so many on that now infamous video.
Honestly I'm just glad they aren't blaming the power of or the difficulty to develop for the system.
@Spoony_Tech
The japanese industry is getting crushed by the western third parties with their big budget everywhere (and yes also on the PS4) and Nintendo should release another system where the same thing will happen?
Nintendo is 100% right trying to create a market that will favor the japanese industry. Of course the consequence will be a big smear campain against them from most of the western medias but I don't care because I have a brain.
Cause the Multi-Million selling Borderlands franchise would not help the Switch one bit.
@PlywoodStick I thought Nintendo might want to simplify things and only have 1 SKU at launch to simplify the message - this is what Switch is - and make that SKU cheap enough so people don't stop and think - well I only wanted a handheld, but this is cheap enough, or I only wanted a home console, but this is cheap enough. But $299 without a game isn't "cheap enough". Well $299 is cheap enough for a home console you can take with you, but not without a game.
So I'm not surprised Nintendo decided to go with a dock in every box, but I am surprised at the price. And making the dock $90 rather than $30 or $40 might give people pause, and say "Why do I need a $90 dock, I'm only using this as a portable for my work commute." If the dock were sold separately for only $30 people might just see it as a $30 charger and not care.
But the funniest thing, Nintendo wanted to simplify the message with 1 SKU, but then they made a 2nd SKU w/ red and blue joyvon. That's pretty much the stupidest thing I've ever seen. Why burden retailers with 2 different SKU to stock just for gray or red/blue joycon? Just make them all gray in the box, sell the red/blue for $80. Simple. That's mind-boggling to me. Maybe if the red/blue also had 1 2 Switch in the box for $319, but exactly the same, even the dock and tablet color? At least make the dock red and blue. Something. It's just added work for everyone for no reason.
@Slim1999 bad language is one thing, Borderlands had bad language, stock sense of humour etc. Yes house of the dead overkill is very bad like that too, but that was back in the Wii days. Really seems like Nintendo has a lot stronger focus on the Switch, and wants to capture the dominantly Japanese games that they lost to Playstation, cause those are the games Nintendo fans seem to be more interested in. Honestly, you could see the odd western game, maybe even Borderlands 3 eventually, but don't expect them as much.
It takes two to stop talking.
Borderlands 3 would be an epic addition to the Switch library. Hopefully Nintendo and Gearbox could work something out if the system starts to show promise.
Borderlands 3 would be a big boon for the system, though I'm not really prepared to buy Randy at face value on his statement, making it seem like its not his fault. I'm sure both companies are to blame in this instance.
This is more non-news. Games that a. aren't even properly released and b. are designed for systems with much higher tech will never come to the Switch, so why do we keep seeing these headlines? Why not confirm that Street Fighter 5 isn't coming to the Switch while you're at it. Just use common sense and you can make tons of articles about random games we'll never see on a console that was never going to run them in the first place.
On top of that? Borderlands is a terrible series, having played through the first two. And Randy Pitchford is a sensationalist putz anyway, so nobody should ever report on anything he says.
Once again nintendo thinks their games are the only ones that sell, and everyone will rush in and buy JUST nintendo. I loved nintendo since (actually before) the NES days...skipped the Super for the Genesis instead (ended up getting a Super and 4 games for it at Toys R Us years later when I spotted it bundled for $20). Got the N64, loved the Gamecube, had the Wii at launch (traded in 3 years later from it resting on the shelf with dust), got the Wii U at launch (traded it a few years later from just the fact that I still call it one of nintendo's worst). I guess I haven't really loved a nintendo console since the Gamecube, and I still play the Gamecube to this day to death, with a library of over 180 games for it (yup, I have that many for it). I was really hoping for the Switch to drive me towards them again (and I'll still be a day one supporter), but I hope that the system doesn't grow old too quickly. Nintendo is great and their games are fabulous, but I hate having to buy 2 consoles to play 3rd party games on (even with the Gamecube, I also owned the PS2...why did the sequels not come to Gamecube of Legacy Of Kain, Gauntlet, the other Outlaw Sports Series...golf 2, volleyball, tennis, or even Bloodrayne). Nintendo really needs to get their priorities right with 3rd party, and realize that no matter what, they need them to get a huge audience to their systems...stop skipping out on the games...nobody cares what kind of game it is, nintendo's console will need various genres, various sports titles (not just mini game compilations)...Madden and all the years need to come to it, the Call Of Duty titles and the others. I hate first-person shooters, but it's something nintendo needs to have, action, adventure, racing sims, simulation, strategy, puzzles, horror, shooters, all sports sims...if it doesn't happen, people will look away and not take it seriously. It's nice to have fun family-friendly games (which I love about nintendo consoles), but don't over do them, or it gets the haters thinking that nintendo is just for 'kids'. And, bundles with 3rd party games during the 2017 holiday season would also help nintendo out too, showing that they actually care about 3rd party support. I really hope that nintendo does things right, but it doesn't look like they are again. How many more console generations is it going to take for them to begin listening to others, besides singing the mario theme into their heads. Anyways, I AM A NINTENDO FAN, before the bashing starts on me, just wishing that I could be the nintendo fan I was when I was a lot younger.
@DrRandle I think (and I don't like the series either), the first one sold incredibly well and the sequel didn't do too bad either. Even the Handsome Edition that they released on PS4 and XBONE sold rather well. I don't care for these kind of games either, but it's good that nintendo gets as many people on board for their system as they can...especially if they want the fanbase and consumer money in their pockets. The more variety of games (and not all kid-friendly), the more they show that they actually care.
@hYdeks You forgot about the Gamecube (and X-box) getting BMX XXX with the full nudity, swearing and everything else in it, where PS2 got a more mellow version of it...also, Bombing Bastards had it's name changed for Playstation then on Wii U, so it's not language or what the game has in it that nintendo pushes themselves away from...it's got to be something else.
Maybe nintendo is making their own shooter with stolen reddit memes.
Maybe Nintendo came across a project that's being worked on that may scratch that Borderlands itch people have? Hm... interesting.
I do feel sorry for people who'd have liked to see Borderlands on Switch -personally, I don't care- but I wonder if communication fell through the cracks just because someone forgot to respond to an email. I've seen it happen even at the highest levels, so whose to say that didn't happen here too?
@JLPick While I agree, Nobody is going to make a reduced version of their game to be Switch friendly. Asking for a port of an XB1 and PS4 game to the Switch is akin to asking for a 360/PS3 port on the Wii, or (maybe more comparable) a PS4 game on WiiU. The Switch is (supposedly) more powerful than a WiiU, yes, but it's not going to be anywhere near the hardware of a PS4, especially when devs are already having to make a second even-bigger version of all their games for the PS4 pro and Scorpio. So while variety is good, we're not getting these cross platform ports. Also, historically, that didn't help the Gamecube when there were ports, so that doesn't really seem to be something that people buying a new Nintendo system are going to really want. If they're anything like most people I know that would get a Switch, those people already have a PS4 and/or a PC that can run those types of games, so there's not really a market to buy a weaker version of the game for your Switch. So it comes back to this being non-news. non-confirmed games not coming to the switch is about as much news as non-confirmed games coming to any other platform: i.e., it's not news.
It makes about as much sense writing this article as it does writing that Nintendo has no plans to bring it's software to PS4 or XB1 at this time. Of course it doesn't. There is absolutely nothing to suggest that anything else would be happening. It's news when something changes, not when everything is exactly the same as it was yesterday.
Look, another retail game NOT coming! Maybe this site can focus on the games that are coming (like all those downloads). Saves them a lot of articles!
I'm not sure where everyone gets the idea that Switch isn't nearly as powerful as a PS4 (not PS4 Pro.) PS4 isn't terribly more powerful than WiiU out of the gate, and Switch is clearly more powerful than WiiU so it should be close to parity. We don't have the core specs, but from what we do know, what we know in comparing it to WiiU and what we know about WiiU, it should be pretty close to PS4. Heck PS4 Pro isn't a huge upgrade, it's mostly just there to facilitate VR, and games will still be held back in terms of geometries to PS4 level because it's required to be supported. WiiU's trouble was never that it wasn't suitably powerful next to PS4, it's that it was an entirely incompatible architecture and dev platform. Switch doesn't have that issue. A "scaled down" version of a game is a non-issue on Switch, just like it is for lower spec PCs.
That doesn't mean ports of AAA titles from Western publishers will be flooding the Switch. They won't, but that's for different business reasons than "not powerful enough."
Given Pitchford's track record, it's not hard to imagine reasons his talks with Nintendo may have broken down. Let's not forget he's responsible for Sega not delivering an early promised WiiU title, and they'd be quite aware of how deviously he stole from them given Nintendo's close ties to Sega these days.
What's more interesting is that he was in talks with Nintendo about Borderlands to begin with! Not an IP I would have associated with a Nintendo launch, even if it's going through 2K.
Also, Borderlands was on Vita....it didn't run well. At all. But it's there!
I hope during the Switch era we can get out of seeing all the news articles about "Western AAA game X won't be coming to Nintendo!" Of course it won't. Nintendo's not aiming for that audience that already has 3 platforms. Western AAA's publishers are skeptical of investment in Nintendo, and Nintendo customers tend to be skeptical of AAA publishers games of often unpolished quality. Nintendo tends to carve out their own niche consisting mostly of their own games, and their own close 3rd party Japanese developer partners. Western studios are invited, but rarely accept. 3DS wasn't exactly lacking for 3rd party content, but I don't recall much from the likes of 2K, EA, Activision, and even Ubisoft on there.
Switch has one benefit signaled by Bethesda though. BETHESDA of all companies! It might become the home for huge, epic RPG/Adventure/Sandbox games, even from the West. The portable format of switch suits the nature of those games and suits the type of consumer who buys them. Nintendo fans tend to like big adventure and RPG games more than military shooters and survival horror, and a lot of fans of vast games like that, even from the PC world, can see the appeal of taking the games portably. We might see where Switch competes not with PS4/XBox but with PC as a portable solution. And PC devs tend to build scalable (hardware-wise) products anyway.
@dew12333 Well, you could always look here to make it a bit easier to find what you are looking for...
But as far as the Switch itself goes: still interested and cautiously optimistic that it will be a success. But like others, I do think it's a bit on the pricey side, although I'm not outraged by it like some, or actually quite a few on here are.
The presentation was not good. It had almost no tempo, it was stop and go, stop and go and so on. Some hits, some misses, which made it rather mediocre, regardless of an absolutely gorgeous looking Breath of the Wild, really interesting looking Mario, wonderful surprises in the form of true sequels to Splatoon and Xenoblade, some interestingly quirky stuff like Snipper Clips, ARMS and 1-2 Switch, and personally, I can't wait to experience HD Rumble for myself.
From what I've read in all hands-on reports, it really is something totally different and potentially beneficial to some genres and/or experiences.
I'm hoping we will soon find out a bit more about those 80 games currently in development, because there were a lot of big names missing on the list, although something tells me that they are saving some for this year's E3...
Hope that answers your question, and if not, you'll know where to find me...
Pity, I like the Borderlands series, but I wonder if its from a technical point of view that it won't be coming to the Switch. The console will need the big AAA 3rd party titles to help it shift consoles. The hard-core Ninty-fans will only buy so many consoles.
@OorWullie "Arms will be a tougher sell to those without the one."
ARMS might be a tough sell anyway, it's $60 and to enjoy it 2 player you really need an extra set of Joycon and a pair of those is $80. At least if they left the dock out of the box people could have used that saved money to buy another set of Joycon and play 2 player in "tabletop" mode.
I agree w/ you ARMS was made for a big screen TV, but people still need the money for a Swtich, ARMS and a 2nd set of Joycon to enjoy it, so it may not sell that well at launch anyway. Or whenever it releases, I don't think it's a launch title. If Switch were $200 instead of $300 - or whatever YEN is - more people might have bought the Switch at launch and the game may have sold better that way due to the larger install base. Hard to say.
I'd really like to see AMRS bundled w/ a pair and red and blue Joycon though.
@Syrek24 It would be great if Switch could reach that level of success; the fact of it being this generations handheld and console might help that. Inversely the 3ds success in Japan hinged on it being a handy pocket device that people could whip out on a commute or other short burst instances. The Switches size and myriad of accessories (some which people deem necessary) make this harder to accomplish.
Personally I'd be happy with a numbered Final Fantasy on the Switch. Here's hoping to its success; we really need it this time.
Bring the Handsome Jack bundle over first.
@JaxonH "but a clamshell design"
I've considered the idea of a clamshell design, either have the Joycon fold in from the side or fold up from the bottom. Of course w/ all of the buttons on the JOycon I never did quite figure out how to do it, but I'm ok w/ a folding device w/ only 1 screen.
And oops, I wish I would have read your Borderlands 2 Vita tirade before my recent "Vita on Switch" comment, you probably aren't going to be happy reading that one. On the bright side, Switch is much more powerful than Vita, that's a given I wont 'even debate, Vita is 5 year old tech, so any Vita port on Switch should look and run really well.
@Grawlog it's about time, I have all the reasons to believe that the move from Sony's handelds to Nintendo's was in part because Capcom couldn't afford to make a MH with expensive polygonal models. I will welcome MH on the Switch like a series meeting its potential at last ;_;
@kamikazilucas Even if you think that, isn't variety important? For the overall success of the console.
Nintendo continues to make questionable decisions that have plagued them forever. Right now they helped push for garbage like 10 year old ports at premium prices like LA Noire or Doom at nearly double the cost of every other platform and performance issues. There is a rumor that Burnout Paradise might also come. We need to pushback against decade old games, especially when priced over $20 and when newer games are ported they need to be done right to eliminate performance issues. It is a slap in the face and we need to stop buying into myths like porting being as costly as making the game in the first place.
If we do this properly, games like LA Noire might still come, but at a much more reasonable $20 and games like Doom will be truly viable options to play the game instead of the current trade off of portability over performance decision. Doom also shouldn't be price above $30 but I could eat $40 for the first 6 months. $60 is just a slap in the face just like and we should show Bethesda that yet another buggy port for full premium prices will not be accepted.
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