Earlier this year, comments from 2K Games parent company Take-Two Interactive led many to believe that Borderlands 3 would be released before March 2019. Teasing a "highly anticipated new title" from the publisher within this time frame, the first-person shooter sequel seemed like the most likely candidate, especially as developer Gearbox Software had recently begun hiring a lot more people.

However, new comments from Take-Two now appear to suggest that Borderlands 3 has been delayed past March 2019 and into the 2020 fiscal year. During the company's recent financial update, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick repeated this same line about a "highly anticipated" game, only this time the executive said that this title has been pushed back. The unannounced game will now be released sometime between April 1, 2019 and March 2020, per Take-Two's update.

Zelnick wasn't forthcoming on the reasons for the delay, only saying that it had been pushed "to allow for additional development time." The executive also said that despite the delay, Take-Two remains "as excited as ever" for the title and expects it to "enhance" the company's results in the next fiscal year.

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Although Borderlands 3 isn't specifically named during the financial update, based on recent comments, fans can infer that this is the game that Take-Two is referring to. Gearbox recently stated that Borderlands 3 will not be at E3 2018, addressing a slate of recent rumors that the game would have a major presence at the event. These rumors were in part fueled by teasing comments about a major franchise title made by Take-Two, so many appreciated that Gearbox had set the record straight.

If the game is skipping E3 2018, then it highlights that Borderlands 3 needs a bit more time in the development oven, as Zelnick's comments stated. The Borderlands franchise is known for its large, open-worlds full of fun gameplay and funny characters, and so Gearbox will want to take the appropriate steps to make sure that the game lives up to expectations. It has also been four years since the last Borderlands game (The Pre-Sequel was released in 2014) and that time away may have put more pressure on the development team to get it right.

Fans will appreciate the extra time being taken to make the game high quality, but it does mean that they will have to get by on drip-fed information until an official announcement is made. For example, Gearbox's Randy Pitchford teased that the game could have a sentient flamethrower. It may be some time until fans get to see that in action, but hopefully Take-Two and Gearbox will keep offering up Borderlands 3 tidbits until then.

Borderlands 3 is currently in development for unspecified platforms.

Source: DualShockers