2 Million Ride the Bus to Borderlands

John Funk

U.N. Owen Was Him?
Dec 20, 2005
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2 Million Ride the Bus to Borderlands



Gearbox Software's Borderlands has evidently become one of the biggest original IPs of the year, selling two million copies worldwide since its October release.

If you look at the list of the bestselling titles this year, you'll find a lot of games with numbers on the end: Street Fighter IV, Resident Evil 5, Assassin's Creed II, Left 4 Dead 2 and the massive behemoth that was Modern Warfare 2. Even one of the rare bestsellers that wasn't a sequel to an existing game - Batman: Arkham Asylum - was part of a beloved superhero franchise. So what, do you have to have an existing franchise to make it in this harsh world of gaming?

Not if you're Borderlands, apparently. According to this Take-Two Q4 fiscal summary [http://ir.take2games.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=431239], Borderlands has done quite well for itself, selling two million copies worldwide since late October and racking up a pair of DLC expansions, The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned and Mad Moxxi's Underground Riot. Gearbox's offbeat shoot-and-loot FPS set on the harsh desert world of Pandora is doing pretty well for itself, which is nice, since it's a great game.

This, however, is one of the few bright spots in Take-Two's Q4 report, seeing as how the publisher lost $137.9 million total in fiscal 2009. Guess not every year can have Grand Theft Auto IV, huh.

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Flishiz

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Feb 11, 2009
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The biggest problem with developers in a recession is that nobody's willing to stick their neck out if it doesn't return a good profit, so we've seen waves of sequels lately just for the sake of company sustainability.

That aside, Borderlands has been in production for a long time, so that above statement doesn't make it the one true hero of recession-era original IPs. Was pretty damn good, though.
 

Cherry Cola

Your daddy, your Rock'n'Rolla
Jun 26, 2009
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And here I was thinking that you could take the Borderlands Buss through a landscape remiscient of the landscapes in the game.

It would cost 2 million, and it would be awesome.
 

HardRockSamurai

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May 28, 2008
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Well, despite Take Two's abmisal quarter sales, I think this is great news! It shows that, in a year filled with high budget sequels, an original IP can still be a great hit.

[small]+1 Faith in Humanity Restored[/small]
 

Pocotron

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Mar 16, 2009
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I think I might get this for Christmas. It hasn't interested me until I beat Assassin's Creed II and realized: "Crap I'm gonna be bored."

But now it looks really cool and has interested me like no other!
 

Amnestic

High Priest of Haruhi
Aug 22, 2008
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I read that as "2 Million Ride the Shortbus to Borderlands", which would have been a far more interesting story.

Still, congrats to *scrolls up* Take Two for making a good selling original IP. Pity Mirror's Edge didn't do quite so well.
 

Say Anything

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Jan 23, 2008
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Furburt said:
Oh, thats good. That means they have enough money to make great DLC.
Did you even read the whole article?

CantFaketheFunk said:
This, however, is one of the few bright spots in Take-Two's Q4 report, seeing as how the publisher lost $137.9 million total in fiscal 2009. Guess not every year can have Grand Theft Auto IV, huh.
 

Sassafrass

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Aug 24, 2009
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Good for them.
Even though they sort have lost a lot of money. And now, in honour of something and the reason I wanted to post this.


Congrats, Take Two.
 

The_Bearded_One

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Nov 9, 2009
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im glad that it acheived this even though it did not get as much recognition it should of deserved cause it was a new ip

lets hope this inspires more publishers to do the same (yeah yeah i know a real shot in the dark for some that dont need mentioning)
 

maddawg IAJI

I prefer the term "Zomguard"
Feb 12, 2009
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Well congratulations to the Gearbox team. They made a good game and a lot of people liked it.I know I enjoyed Borderlands for a while.

As for the sequels: Some developers know they can make a big profit by making a sequel so they often do that. Can't blame a buisness for running a buisness.
 

cainx10a

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May 17, 2008
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Sigh, I wish they would add a "Playthrough 3" mode.

BUT, have to admit Borderlands' dlc are pretty good, like Scooters' rides.
 

AvsJoe

Elite Member
May 28, 2009
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Well, this is yet another reaason for me to play this game but I just do not have the money right now. I hope that my finances bounce back in the new year so I can finally buy a games system and pick up this game among others.
 

JoGribbs

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May 3, 2009
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This is unbelievably good news. It's great that Gearbox have finally released some original content, and doubly so that it's found such a receptive audience.

Doesn't hurt that Borderlands is a great game as well.