With the recent launch of its Vault Insider Program, Gearbox has essentially gamified its marketing efforts around Borderlands 3. The program appears to be a mixture between a street team and an information hub, where members can view information about the game and share that information with friends for points.
Activities include watching trailers, visiting social media accounts, completing surveys, reading blog posts, and inviting friends to the program.
However, those that sign up for the program, which requires a SHiFT account, are entitled to some pretty enticing rewards, including guns, mods, and skins for Borderlands 3. Other items up for grabs include wallpapers as well as 10 Gold Keys and weapons for the previous games in the franchise.
Points are fairly easy to come by, too, it seems. For simply registering for the program, subscribing to the 2K newsletter, and “reading about Borderlands 3” on the VIP program page, members can rack up 1,600 points in less than five minutes.
Rewards are redeemed in-game via a linked account.
Leading up to the release of yesterday’s official trailer, which you can see at the top of this article, Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford confirmed that Borderlands 3 would not have crossplay at launch.
While he did not confirm when crossplay would come to the highly-anticipated shooter, he did say that it would come “as soon as practicable after launch,” in some ways confirming what Gearbox has said all along: that it is “very keen” on crossplay.
Of course, we do know that Borderlands 3 will, unsurprisingly, have multiplayer at launch as well as co-op. Crossplay will undoubtedly be the icing of the cake for some players, but there will be plenty to do until that becomes a reality.
Earlier this year, Paul Sage, the creative director for Borderlands 3, said that the game is about 30 hours long “if you beeline it through… the main story.” Earlier this month, Gearbox unveiled a new Duel MP mode for the game, which will certainly extend that playtime for many players, not considering those that historically play strictly for loot.
Borderlands 3 is currently up for pre-order on a variety of storefronts, including the VIP Program page, which will give players the “Early Adopter Pack containing a Children of the Vault weapon, an Echo Device skin, and five Gold Keys…”
Borderlands 3 is set to release for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One on September 13. It will be exclusive to the Epic Games store on PC.
