Borderlands 4 has, like, so many guns, 30 billion guns, so many they had to put 'em on a 'wall of guns' like the Matrix, say devs

(Image credit: Gearbox Software)

One of the most known marketing lines in videogame history is the absolutely ludicrous promise that Borderlands has 87 bazillion guns. Obviously this is hyperbole—the guns are randomised. It has a lot, but a bazillion is not a real number and thus should not be taken seriously. It was a goof, a gaff.

Well, that tagline now has a competitor. Borderlands 4 has 30 billion guns. Apparently. That's per an Epic Games store post that quotes art director Adam May.

Given the looter shooter is no longer novel, you and I both know better than to take this at face value. Mathematically there might be 30 billion guns, but in practice, we're talking about a randomised stat-stick with a bunch of different lego parts with indiscernible numbers. The main difference in how guns handle—in other words, the important bit—is down to the manufacturer, a fact May is quick to emphasise.

"Players have some recognition when they’re picking up a certain manufacturer’s weapon and have a rough idea of how it’s going to function," he says. "It’s a back-and-forth with the design team and art team, making sure that visually things line up with how they're supposed to work mechanically."

That's a pretty solid question, actually—how are you gonna keep all of your guns from looking like pre-transmog World of Warcraft characters in firearm form? Senior project producer Anthony Nicholson says you put 'em on a wall. That's how. Like in the Matrix.

"It made it so you could see how each of those things were and how we could have those combinations roll together and how they would work—the slides, the animators, the actions, the art all fitting together. Because a certain gun, if it pumps one way, but there’s a long barrel that goes on the bottom, obviously those parts can’t go together." Oh my. But isn't that the fun part, Nicholson?

I'm being a touch glib about the same uberbazillio-jillion (a new word I have made up and am in the process of patenting, step off, Pitchford) guns, but I do figure the process of figuring out, logistically, how you make a looter-shooter's randomised gunslop all look cohesive is actually difficult. And, hey, if the Matrix wall works, it works. Who knows—maybe the story'll be semi-decent this time around, too.

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Harvey's history with games started when he first begged his parents for a World of Warcraft subscription aged 12, though he's since been cursed with Final Fantasy 14-brain and a huge crush on G'raha Tia. He made his start as a freelancer, writing for websites like Techradar, The Escapist, Dicebreaker, The Gamer, Into the Spine—and of course, PC Gamer. He'll sink his teeth into anything that looks interesting, though he has a soft spot for RPGs, soulslikes, roguelikes, deckbuilders, MMOs, and weird indie titles. He also plays a shelf load of TTRPGs in his offline time. Don't ask him what his favourite system is, he has too many.

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