Borderlands 3 Could Have Sentient Flamethrower

Game Rant

By Dalton Cooper

Published Jan 29, 2018

Thanks to a Twitter conversation between inventor Elon Musk and Gearbox Software's Randy Pitchford, we now know that Borderlands 3 will have a sentient flamethrower.

Borderlands 3 hasn't been officially announced, but thanks to the Twitter antics of Gearbox Software CEO Randy Pitchford, we may know at least one of many weapons that will be included in the game: a sentient flamethrower.

SpaceX, Tesla Inc, and The Boring Company founder Elon Musk is selling a $500 flamethrower through his website. In a tweet promoting the flamethrower, Musk joked that it is sentient and "comes with a free blockchain." This caught the attention of Borderlands 3 developer Randy Pitchford, who then asked Elon's permission to include the flamethrower in the game, along with "flavor text" for the weapon pulled from Musk's own Tweets.

Check out the Twitter exchange between Randy Pitchford and Elon Musk right here:

Musk then gave Pitchford permission to include the "sentient flamethrower" in Borderlands 3, meaning fans may now know the first confirmed weapon for the game. Of course, it's possible that Pitchford is just joking despite his insistence that he is being "super serious," but anyone looking to get their hands on an Elon Musk-inspired weapon in Borderlands 3 should keep their fingers crossed that isn't the case.

If Pitchford is truly being serious, then the inclusion of a sentient flamethrower is the first real detail we have about the game. As previously stated, Borderlands 3 isn't even officially announced, so all we have to go by are rumors, speculation, and the occasional hints from Gearbox about what form the game is taking.

Something that we do know about Borderlands 3 is that it will have microtransactions. This is thanks to comments made by Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick, who revealed to investors late last year that all of the company's future games would include microtransactions of some kind. How these microtransactions will be implemented remains to be seen, but as long as they don't interfere with gameplay, then they shouldn't be too controversial.

Perhaps fans will learn about Borderlands 3's microtransactions and other features later this year. Zelnick has teased in the past that Borderlands 3 will launch in 2018, so an official reveal could come any day now, depending on how far along the project is in development.

Borderlands 3 is in development for unspecified consoles.