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Borderlands 3 Devs Mercilessly Trolled For Enabling Obvious Pre-Loading Feature

Last Updated September 23, 2020 12:59 PM
Thomas Bardwell
Last Updated September 23, 2020 12:59 PM

After announcing  earlier this week that Borderlands 3 would support pre-loading on all platforms 48 hours before launch in a Tweet that framed the news as the best thing since sliced bread, developer Gearbox was quickly reminded by the community that the addition of the feature isn’t all that extraordinary.

Pre-loading has become an integral part of any modern triple-A release, and the real news was its absence, announced earlier this month, rather than finally implementing a feature that was widely adopted the better part of a decade ago, if not longer.

As these Twitter users put it;

Epic CEO Tom Sweeney Joins The Fray

To add insult to injury, Epic Games supremo, Tom Sweeney, weighed in, describing Gearbox’s last-minute work to implement Borderlands 3 pre-loading as ”an extraordinary development push.”

A bad move on his part as this unsurprisingly opened the flood gates to trolling remarks centered on Epic Games Store exclusivity and the current state of the platform. A common refrain among comments was the game wouldn’t truly release until it launches on Steam in six months.

https://twitter.com/shihabshabbir/status/1169082636599549952

Others were quick to point out the lack of functionality on the Epic Games Store and how Epic had delegated the work of implementing Borderlands 3 pre-loading to Gearbox;

https://twitter.com/ISaidComeIn1/status/1169256910668742656

Although swathes of the Borderlands 3 are boycotting the Epic Games Store release, others expressed their excitement;

https://twitter.com/Dankster_TV/status/1168944537110294529

Gearbox Releases Useful Borderlands 3 Release Time Graphic

Amid the backlash, Gearbox did get one thing right, and that is to publish a handy graphic detailing at what time Borderlands 3 would go live across the world on Sept. 13. A small thing, but one that eager fans will relish as they’ll know exactly when they can jump in and wreak havoc on Pandora.

Borderlands 3 Developer Gearbox Trolled For Enabling Pre-Loading on EGS
Source: Borderlands 3/Gearbox Software

Right on cue, Twitter users used this as ammunition to troll the Borderlands 3 developer even more;

Putting aside all the fun we’re having at Borderlands 3 and Epic Games’ expense, there’s a silver lining to all this; sustained community pressure can yield results and nudge developers and storefronts into delivering on basic expectations, albeit ones that are an industry standard.