In recent years, game developerGearbox Softwarehas come to be associated solely with the extremely successfulBorderlandsseries along with the notoriously poorly receivedAliens: Colonial Marines. The former made its debut in 2009 and consists of five titles, with the upcoming standalone spin-offTiny Tina’s Wonderlandsset to release in March 2022. TheBorderlandsseries has arguably been Gearbox’s most successful, as it sits securely on the list of bestselling video game franchises of all time. ABorderlandsfilm adaptationfeaturing Cate Blanchett, Jack Black, Kevin Hart, and Jamie Lee Curtis is currently in development by Lionsgate as well.
On the flipside lurksAliens: Colonial Marines, dubbed one of the worst video games based on theAliensfranchise ever made. Released in 2013, the first-person shooter was expected to be an exceptionalAliensgame, coming as it did from Gearbox, a company with the first two award-winningBorderlandsgames already on its resume. What people received was a bug-ridden offering with poor AI and very little enjoyable content. There have been many attempts to dissectwhat went wrong withAliens: Colonial Marinesover the years, with blame being placed on everything from a premature announcement sparking unreasonable player expectations to the development team being diverted to work onDuke Nukem Forever.
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Gearbox Software got its start in 1999 making theOpposing ForceandBlue Shiftexpansions for the originalHalf-Life, and then went on to secure the contract to portHalo: Combat Evolvedto PC in 2003. After spending five years working on expansions and ports of other games, Gearbox moved on to what became its first franchise in 2005, theBrothers in Armsseries of tactical shooters. Though it never reached the same level of widespread acclaim as othervideo game franchises set during World War 2 likeCall of DutyorMedal of Honor, the series has an established fan base waiting seven years for another installment. So it may be a little surprising to learn that there is anotherBrothers in Armsgame on the way.
The series so far totals 11 games with a 12th,Brothers in Arms:Furious 4, canceled in 2015 due to negative fan feedback. While the focus of Gearbox has since seemingly shifted to itsBorderlandsfranchise, the company’s CEO Randy Pitchford let fans know thatBrothers in Armshad not been forgotten. He announced in April 2020 that a television series based on the games was being developed, though there has since been little news on that front. During an April 2021 interview on the podcast of Ted Price, CEO of Insomniac Games, Pitchford nonchalantly shared that a newBrothers in Armsgame is currently in development by Gearbox.
The last major entry in theBrothers in Armsseries wasHell’s Highwayin 2008. The releases after that included one compilation of the first two games for Wii and OS X and five mobile titles. However, as far back as 2015, Pitchford had stated that the franchise had not been permanently shelved but was rather in an “incubation phase.” The next game, stated Gearbox’s CEO in an interview, would have to be authentic. “I feel like we have unfinished business there with both the fiction and the history.”
Homeworld, Branching Out
Much likeGearbox Software’s attempt to rescue the development of 2011’sDuke Nukem Foreverwhen it seemed permanently stalled, the company also jumped in to revive another flagging series in 2013. TheHomeworldfranchise consists of four science fiction real-time strategy titles developed by Relic Entertainment. By 2013, it had been exactly 10 years since the release ofHomeworld 2, the third game, and many fans believed that the award-winning series was no more. Ownership of the IP had switched hands a couple of times, and Gearbox purchased the rights from THQ.
Shortly after the acquisition, the company released a remastered collection ofHomeworldandHomeworld 2in 2015, andGearbox announced that it would be publishingHomeworld 3,which is in developmentby Blackbird Interactive. Planned tentatively for a Q4 2022 release, development ofHomeworld 3was crowdfunded through Fig, a somewhat unusual step for what has become a AAA game development studio and publisher. This method of funding was chosen in order to give players the chance to work with Blackbird Interactive from the very beginning, influencing the direction and priorities of the game’s development. The crowdfunding campaign has now ended, having raised more than $1.5 million.
Along withTiny Tina’s Wonderlands, slated for release early next year, fans of Gearbox can therefore look forward toHomeworld 3sometime later in 2022. And if all goes well, more information about the next entry in theBrothers in Armsfranchise will be announced soon. With theBorderlandsfilm andBrothers in ArmsTV series also in the works, Gearbox Software is going to be a very busy studio for the next couple of years.
