In the lead up to the release of Borderlands 3 last September, it was uncertain how well the third installment in the series would perform thanks to some controversial decisions by the developer. Six months later, it seems that all doubts were unfounded as sales are stronger than ever. During the Q3 2020 earnings call for Take-Two Interactive, CEO Stauss Zelnick spoke about the strong commercial performance of both Borderlands 3 and The Outer Worlds.
Since launching on the Epic Games Store, Borderlands 3 has sold an impressive eight million units. The Season Pass is also selling well, indicating that players are fully invested in the game for the long haul. The Outer Worlds, meanwhile, continues to impress now having passed over two million units sold.
The news is not only great for Take-Two Interactive and its investors, but also for the Epic Games Store. 2019 was tumultuous and controversial for the company as it moved throughout the gaming industry to sign countless developers to exclusivity agreements that would lock a game to their platform, denying consumers the opportunity to purchase on Steam or elsewhere.
When Borderlands 3 was announced as an Epic Games exclusive, fans made their opinions of discontent loud and clear, and it would be fair to say that there were signs of impending trouble as the launch date neared. While being an exclusive did not bother all players, the lack of an achievement system like what Steam has did become apparent, especially as Epic Games missed their internal goal of having their own system in place in a timely manner.
However, the Q3 earnings for Take-Two Interactive must be considered as indicative that players will flock to whichever platform has the best games and will not abandon a title simply for choosing one over another. Beyond Fortnite, other games have seen stellar performance after signing exclusivity agreements, including Metro Exodus and World War Z.
While the sales figures for both games are great news for the developer, players hoping to experience The Outer Words on the Nintendo Switch will have to wait quite a bit longer than expected.
Source: ir.take2games.com
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