Borderlands 3 won't be a launch title for Google Stadia when the cloud-only platform debuts tomorrow in fourteen countries. However, the record-setting first-person cooperative looter shooter game is expected to be available very soon on Stadia.
Our editor Kai Powell recently interviewed Gearbox Head of PR Austin Malcolm and Heady of Story Group Randy Varnell (a producer on Borderlands 3) and received confirmation from Malcolm regarding the impending release. Varnell also chimed in to testify his shock at how well the game plays on Google Stadia.
What was your experience with Google Stadia?
Austin Malcolm: Yeah, we've been working on that. We're shooting for the 19th, the launch day, we're shooting for that. But we want to kind of fine-tune it, just make sure everything's kind of perfect. So it might just be a few days after that. If Borderlands 3 is not a launch title, it's going to be a near-launch title.
Randy Varnell: I have played Borderlands 3 running on Google Stadia. I was on a mobile phone with a controller attached to it. I was actually shocked at how smooth it was. You know, of course, it requires a pretty smoking Internet connection to be sure that everything is cool and all that, but [it's a] surprisingly good port of the game. So I'm excited to see where that goes, it's unexplored territory. No one knows what's going to happen there. And I think, we were talking about this on the plane the other day, I think it's got a lot of potential for the future.
Borderlands 3 was not only a major commercial hit for Gearbox and 2K. Critics appreciated the game as well, including our Nate, though he did have a few reservations after playing it. Here's the final summary of his review:
Borderlands 3 is another bountiful, bullet-filled buffet for fans. Hunting for that perfect gun is still addictive and the minute-to-minute action is better than ever, but flat writing, sometimes-frustrating level design, and a lack of polish limits the game’s potential. If you’re starving for more Borderlands, by all means, dig in, but you might find you’ve had your fill sooner than you expected.
Check back soon to read Kai's full interview with the Gearbox developers.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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