Sweeping deals and free game giveaway on genre-defining looter shooter lead to 4X player count increase overnight
With Borderlands 4 on the horizon, it seems as though 2K Games saw fit to get everyone all caught up on the story so far, announcing a sweeping Steam sale on the Borderlands franchise. As part of the sale event, Borderlands 2 is free to claim, and Borderlands 3 is heavily discounted — just $2.99 down from $59.99. Despite launching nearly 13 years ago, in 2012, Borderlands 2 still maintained a steady player base of around 2,000–3,000 players daily. A mere 24 hours after the free game giveaway announcement, though, SteamDB puts Borderlands 2's active player count at just over 17,000 players. At the time of writing, it appears as though the Borderlands 2 player count is continuing to trend upwards, so there should be another uptick over the weekend as more gamers get free time to hop into the iconic looter shooter for the first time.
The effect seems to be less pronounced for Borderlands 3, which is heavily discounted during the sale, but not free. Part of this could be explained by the fact that Borderlands 3 was once featured as a free game on the Epic Games Store.
Borderlands franchise Steam sale pricing
The Borderlands franchise Steam sale has seen prices for the legendary shooter series drop as follows:
Borderlands GOTY Enhanced: $9.89 (67% off)
Borderlands 2: Free
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel: $3.99 (90% off)
Borderlands 3: $2.99 (95% off)
Borderlands Collection: Pandora's Box: $35.67
In case you have been living under a rock, the Borderlands franchise pretty much set the standard for looter shooters when the first game in the series premiered in 2009, introducing a unique art style, charming characters, solid gun play, and plenty of loot. Borderlands 2 evolved the formula with improved gun play and loot mechanics as well as the most beloved villain in the franchise — and in the genre as a whole. Although the fanbase largely agrees that Borderlands 3 was an improvement in many regards, many still hold Borderlands 2 as the gold standard for the franchise's storytelling.
It should also be noted that there has been some controversy surrounding the Borderlands franchise lately, due to a recent change to the game's EULA that some have perceived as invasive and predatory. This EULA change has resulted in a review bomb campaign in protest.
