Ahead of the Borderlands 3 Celebration of Togetherness event, Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford took to Twitter to address the growing speculation that the event would announce cross-play for the upcoming looter-shooter. While many fans believed the "Togetherness" meant playing with friends regardless of platform, it seems that tomorrow's event will be something else entirely, though Pitchford did address the possibility of cross-play in the game post-launch.
Pitchford's tweet shot down the rumors building about the Celebration of Togetherness, stating that tomorrow's announcement will not feature any talk of cross-play (though cross-save was not mentioned). However, Pitchford did give fans a glimmer of hope, stating that the Borderlands 3 team is hard at work to make sure that there is cross-play support "as soon as practicable after launch" - meaning that fans may get to play the game with friends regardless of platform following the launch in September. Perhaps cross-save will also come to Borderlands 3 at some point in the future so players can keep track of all their Vault Hunters regardless of which platform they decide to play.
Cross-play has been one of the major focuses for many gamers as of late, so it's no surprise that Gearbox is looking to introduce cross-play to the Borderlands franchise. Gearbox has a history of continuing support for the Borderlands games well after launch, like the new Borderlands 2 DLC that launched at E3 2019, a full seven years after the launch of the base game. If Gearbox wants Borderlands 3 to last as long as its predecessor, it may be necessary for them to add cross-play to make sure the game stays relevant if cross-play is becoming the new gaming trend.
Borderlands 3 is shaping up to be a lot bigger than the previous entries in the series. From new planets and Vault Hunters to the ever-growing list of weapons to find out in the worlds, Borderlands 3 is going to be exactly what many fans of the series long for in a sequel. If the Borderlands 3 gameplay demo is any indicator of how polished the final game will be, things are looking bright for the future of the Borderlands franchise - which will hopefully feature cross-play in the very near future.
Borderlands 3 launches September 13 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.