Borderlands is now a 100 million-copy franchise, and Gearbox isn't done yet

[Shawn Knight]

In brief: Borderlands, the action role-playing first-person shooter series developed by Gearbox Software and published by 2K, has surpassed 100 million copies sold since its debut. The achievement comes just over a year after the launch of the latest entry in the franchise, Borderlands 4.

Gearbox launched Borderlands 4 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and Windows PCs on September 12, 2025. Like others in the series, it is playable solo or with up to three others. Gamers have enjoyed a solid first year of post-launch add-on content including two story packs, five bounty packs, and a pair of new vault hunters, on top of several new activities and features.

Gearbox said it's rare for a game series to surpass the 100 million units sold mark, and they aren't wrong. Outside of monster franchises like Mario, Call of Duty, Sonic the Hedgehog, Zelda, and Resident Evil, very few ever reach that milestone.

Only three individual games have ever sold more than 100 million copies on their own: Grand Theft Auto V (230 million), Minecraft (425 million), and Tetris (520 million). Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the next installment in the GTA series will likely be the fourth to join that coveted list.

According to Sensor Tower's sales tracker, Rockstar has already secured 7.71 million pre-orders for Grand Theft Auto VI. That works out to roughly $751 million in revenue, with orders split 74% / 26% in favor of the PlayStation 5. The game is reportedly coming to PC as early as Q1 2027, but that hasn't yet been officially confirmed by Rockstar.

What are your thoughts on the Borderlands franchise? I know several people that swear by it, but have also spoken to others that find it a bit too repetitive in that you're essentially stuck in an endless cycle of grinding to level up only to fight stronger enemies, requiring stouter weapons to defeat them.

Looking ahead, Gearbox pointed to November 6 and the start of a community fundraising event called The Hunt. Earlier this year, gamers raised nearly $120,000 for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, TN through a similar event.

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Borderlands is now a 100 million-copy franchise, and Gearbox isn't done yet

 

[yRaz]

I love borderlands and it's over the top absurdism. It does annoy me that they make running it on Linux harder than it needs to be, it's not like it has a hyper competitive scene. Sometimes you just want to kill big monsters with your friends, what happened to fun for funs sake?

Bordlands 1 opening was amazing when you jump off that ramp

 

[NumberNine]

Randy Pitchford is a waste of oxygen.

 

[Burty117]

I'm surprised it's sold so well, Borderlands 1, and especially 2, were great, really good, hundreds of hours in Borderlands 2.

But The Pre-Sequel was rubbish, Borderlands 3 wasn't very good, and Borderlands 4 I haven't purchased until I hear it's actually any good.

 

[m4a4]

I'm surprised it's sold so well, Borderlands 1, and especially 2, were great, really good, hundreds of hours in Borderlands 2.

But The Pre-Sequel was rubbish, Borderlands 3 wasn't very good, and Borderlands 4 I haven't purchased until I hear it's actually any good.

Yup. Put over 100hrs into 1, close to that for 2, 3 was ok. And didn't even finish the presequel (got to a point where I was just doing story for the sake of it, and reached a gunship boss that was overleveled and I stopped caring).

4 just looked dumb, especially with those annoying protagonists. So it was an easy skip.