If you’ve read enough gaming news, you’ve probably noticed that the word “quietly” gets thrown around a lot. A game “quietly” launches, a studio “quietly” lays off staff, a publisher “quietly” delists a title. Half the time, it just means nobody was paying attention. But in the case of Borderlands Mobile, this is the rare instance where “quietly” is doing exactly the work it’s supposed to. There was no press release. No trailer. No social media posts from 2K, Gearbox, or Zynga. A new game in a franchise that has sold over 90 million copies just appeared on the iOS App Store today like it was a flashlight app someone forgot to take down.
The game, currently titled Borderlands Mobile, is a free-to-play experience developed by Zynga’s NaturalMotion studio, the mobile game arm of Take-Two Interactive. We first spotted it on Wario64’s feed, but a Zynga spokesperson provided a statement to GameSpot confirming that the studio is conducting a “limited-time test” and that Borderlands Mobile is just a working title. Gearbox is involved in a creative guidance role, consulting on the franchise’s design, history, and lore. A similar statement was provided to Forbes, which also noted that the game appears to be set after the events of Borderlands 3.
From what early reports indicate, the game features the franchise’s signature cel-shaded art style and includes modes like Campaign Missions, Tower of Terror, and Circle of Slaughter. Only the Siren class is playable at the moment, with other characters listed as “coming soon.” There’s a companion system tied to real-world timers, and as a free-to-play title, microtransactions are expected, but details on how they’ll work remain unclear.
I have to admit, I’m a little curious about this one. I do play games on mobile, and as someone who has spent over 220 hours with Borderlands 2 and considers it one of the best games I’ve ever played, the idea of a bite-sized Borderlands experience on the go is at least worth checking out. I’ve already seen how a major franchise can translate well to mobile with The Division Resurgence, which genuinely surprised me with how much of the PC experience it managed to capture on a smaller screen. If Borderlands Mobile can pull off something similar, it could be worth the download. In my review of Borderlands 4, I noted that it felt like the franchise overcorrected after the disappointment of Borderlands 3, leaning too serious and losing some of the series’ soul in the process. A mobile spinoff that doesn’t take itself too seriously could actually be a fun change of pace for the franchise. That said, I don’t have an iOS device, so I’ll have to wait until it hits Android to try it for myself.
The soft-launch approach makes sense for a limited test, but you’d think a franchise this big would at least put out a tweet. There’s no word yet on when or if Borderlands Mobile will come to Android, or if it will ever get a proper wide release.
