In 2014, Telltale Games' Tales from the Borderlands was released to relatively weak sales, making it likely that a follow-up would probably never happen. After nearly eight years, a new ESRB rating for the game indicates that the series could be coming back in a big way.
The development history of the Tales from the Borderlands game is a relatively simple one. After the runaway success of the first season of Telltale's The Walking Dead, the developer began taking on a ton of projects. One such project was Tales from the Borderlands, which took place after the events of Borderlands 2. The story followed a pair of new characters who wanted to take the place of the second game's antagonist, Handsome Jack. Like all the other Telltale properties, however, Tales from the Borderlands fell into limbo when the company went bankrupt in 2018. Now, however, it appears that a new announcement for the game might be on the horizon.
In a recent posting, the ESRB's website revealed an updated rating for Tales from the Borderlands. It still maintains the hard M rating but, interestingly, has added more platforms that the game is available on. Originally Tales from the Borderlands was available for the Playstation 3, Microsoft Windows, Playstation 4, Xbox One, Xbox 360, iOS, OS X, and Android. And it eventually made its way to Nintendo Switch. This updated rating, however, shows the Playstation 5 as an available platform, indicating that some new things could be on the horizon for the franchise.
As mentioned above, Telltale Games went bankrupt back in 2018, leaving behind a very complicated legacy. On one hand, its interactive storytelling made it quite unique in the medium. On the other hand, stories of workplace crunch and general mismanagement arguably resulted in the calls for video game development reform that we are still seeing today. Ultimately, the majority of Telltale's assets went to a company known as LCG Entertainment Inc., which is now doing business with the Telltale name and has been working to revive the properties. The rights to the Borderlands Telltale games, however, found their way into the hands of 2K Games. This new ESRB rating, however, seems to indicate that the company is doing something with Tales from the Borderlands.
Since 2K took over the Tales from the Borderlands property, the company re-released the game for Windows, Playstation 4, Xbox One, and the Nintendo Switch. In addition, 2K also revealed that a sequel to Tales from the Borderlands is in development and is being made by original Borderlands developers Gearbox Software. What this new ESRB rating could indicate is that 2K is prepared to begin ramping up the Tales from the Borderlands franchise and reminding everyone that it still exists, as it prepares to officially unveil the upcoming sequel.
On the other hand, it is equally possible that this ESRB rating update is just because 2K is going to make Tales from the Borderlands available on the Playstation 5's digital storefront. Since early 2021, the publisher has been steadily making Tales from the Borderlands available on various digital storefronts after an extended absence. It also could mean that a physical edition of the game might be available for the platform as well. Whether this comes alongside some kind of announcement for the new game, however, remains to be seen.
Source: ESRB