Gearbox Software has announced that it wants to change the humor in Borderlands 4 and focus less on toilet and fecal jokes. This decision is based on feedback on Borderlands 3, which was criticized for its excessive focus on vulgar humor.
At this year’s Gamescom, Gearbox Software officially announced Borderlands 4. Now, at the Game Awards, there was a new trailer. As we already reported, the trailer had some action-packed scenes, but it was sorely lacking in humor. This was also a topic of discussion in the community.
Narrative Director Sam Winkler has now commented on this. He emphasized via X (formerly Twitter) that they want to break new ground in terms of humor for the upcoming game. He explained that the humor in Borderlands 4 should be “situational” and “natural”.
With this, Gearbox seems to want to avoid the humor appearing forced, as some fans noticed in Borderlands 3.
No room for meme trends
In his post, Winkler also jokingly added: “If the word ‘Skibidi’ ships in the game under my watch, I’m gonna cry real tears.”
This comment alludes to current internet meme trends, which are often overused in their peak phase and quickly lose their relevance. With Borderlands 4, Gearbox wants to ensure that the humor is more timeless and less dependent on such references. To underscore his point, Winkler picked up on the “Hawk tuah” meme that went viral over the summer and made it clear that such references would have no place in the upcoming game.
Borderlands 4 is scheduled to be released next year for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.
