Terminally ill fan hopes to play Borderlands 4 early, Gearbox CEO vows to "make something happen"

[zohaibahd]

Heart-warming: The tight-knit community around Gearbox Software's Borderlands series is once again showing its heart of gold. A fan with terminal cancer has reached out, expressing a wish to play the upcoming Borderlands 4 before time runs out – and the developers are stepping in to make it happen.

The story began when Caleb McAlpine, a self-described "diehard Borderlands fan," posted on the Borderlands 3 subreddit earlier this week. McAlpine shared that he was diagnosed with stage four cancer back in August. Doctors estimate he has between seven to 12 months left in the worst case, or up to two years with chemotherapy.

With Borderlands 4 currently set for release in 2025, McAlpine was understandably worried he might not be around to experience the highly anticipated title. His Reddit post was a heartfelt long shot, asking if anyone could help him get in touch with Gearbox to see if he could have an early chance to play the game.

"So I am a die hard borderlands fan and don't know if I will be around for Borderlands 4. Is there anyone that knows how to get in touch with Gearbox to see if there is a way to play the game early? Long shot but thought I would try," he wrote.

Thanks everyone who reached out to point me to this: https://t.co/g2eisJvH7F

Caleb and I are now chatting via e-mail and we're going to do whatever we can to make something happen.

– Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) October 24, 2024

The Borderlands community showed up in full force. McAlpine's post has garnered over 16,000 upvotes as of this writing and was pinned to the top of the subreddit. It quickly caught the attention of Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford, who responded that he's now in direct contact with McAlpine and that they'll "do whatever we can to make something happen."

This isn't the first time the Borderlands fanbase and developers have united to fulfill a terminally ill fan's wish. Back in 2019, another stage 4 cancer patient named Trevor Eastman was able to go hands-on with Borderlands 3 before its launch. Sadly, Eastman passed away later that year, prompting Gearbox to immortalize him in the game with the legendary "Trevonator" weapon.

The series also paid tribute to a late fan, Michael Mamaril, in Borderlands 2 in 2011, after a friend reached out asking for an in-game eulogy by Mamaril's favorite character, Claptrap. Not only did Gearbox record special dialogue that broke the fourth wall, but they also named an NPC after him.

The gaming community often gets a bad rap for toxicity, but these stories are a reminder of the strong bonds that form over a shared love of games.

McAlpine has also launched a GoFundMe to help cover costs, which, at last check, had raised over $7,500 toward its $9,000 goal.

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Terminally ill fan hopes to play Borderlands 4 early, Gearbox CEO vows to "make something happen"

 

[Achaios]

Τhis reminds me of Old Blizzard when Mark Kern was the boss. They have done a lot of good deeds in connection w/ terminally ill patients.

In one occasion, they recorded the voice of a terminally ill kid dying of cancer and then created a NPC named after this kid's main in-game character and then let the same NPC have the voice of the dying kid in game. The (dead) kid's voice can still be heard today in WoW in the in-game region of Mulgore when one interacts with the specific NPC.

In another occasion, Old Blizzard permanently immortalized a terminally ill patient's female Night Elf Hunter in The Burning Crusade WoW expansion.

In yet another occasion, Old Blizzard under Mark Kern immortalized one Anthony Ray Stark, a Blizzard WoW game tester by letting his main in game character, a Dwarf Warrior named ROUSCH, permanently exist within the World of Warcraft in the Hillsbrad Foothills zone. A.R. Stark died in 2005.

There never was a greater gaming company than Old Blizzard. Present "Blizzard" is just a bunch of woke imposters.

 

[Neatfeatguy]

Crate Entertainment did something kind of like this for a die hard fan that had passed away - or some fan's father. I forget the details. Not something unheard of in the gaming community. Always nice to hear these things, lets you know that someone is at least paying attention to the fans.

 

[WhiteLeaff]

I can't see myself liking borderlands... but there's no way I can't appreciate this attitude. Glad to see it

 

[noel24]

...die hard fan...

That was inappropriate...

 

[Neatfeatguy]

I can't see myself liking borderlands... but there's no way I can't appreciate this attitude. Glad to see it

First one was fun, second one was just as good (except for Tiny Tina - I personally hated that NPC). After that it was all downhill and fast, just awful in terms of story and humor that helped make the first two games great. The weapons were still fun, but that was about it.

I don't have any hopes for this entry to be any better. I'm sure my brother and I will get a copy of it, but sometime down the line when all DLC are out and you can buy a deluxe edition for cheap that has everything in it. At least playing co-op in the Borderland games has been a good experience.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

It's nice to see not all corpos have forgotten that their user-bases are actually humans and not just sentient wallets.

First one was fun, second one was just as good (except for Tiny Tina - I personally hated that NPC). After that it was all downhill and fast, just awful in terms of story and humor that helped make the first two games great. The weapons were still fun, but that was about it.

I don't have any hopes for this entry to be any better. I'm sure my brother and I will get a copy of it, but sometime down the line when all DLC are out and you can buy a deluxe edition for cheap that has everything in it. At least playing co-op in the Borderland games has been a good experience.

I found 1 to be rather boring. The story just seemed to drag on.

2 was way better,more varied environments, a wacky villain, fun new characters (Tina was.....eh)

TPS had some neat new ideas and D3TH-T4AP was a great playable character, but the story felt much more like 1, way too repetitive.

3 plays the best but by GOD the story is atrocious. Smarmy girlboss mary sues do not make good characters. What they did to Lilith was just horrible, as was the style for the time.

I dont have high hopes for 4 at all. Writing in games has gone so downhill so fast its in the mantle already.

 

[FaTaL]

Hey come on over to our office play alpha version..
but you can't leave here alive.

 

[Nobina]

He wants to play it because it's so bad, it makes death feel easy in comparison.

Okay, I'm sorry.