Randy Pitchford says Tiny Tina's Wonderlands didn't get DLC because there was 'no way to do that and put the focus on Borderlands 4 that we needed to'

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The Gearbox boss says Tina Tiny was a hit, but circumstances didn't allow for more.

Tiny Tina as the Bunker Master
(Image credit: Geabox)

The Borderlands spinoff looter-shooter Tiny Tina's Wonderlands is pretty good, if you're into that sort of thing, and it was apparently something of a surprise hit too: Publisher Take-Two Interactive said in 2022 that the game "outperformed our expectations" and was "the best new franchise launch from 2K in several years." Given all that, you might have expected more Tiny Tina to happen in fairly short order—but it didn't.

The reason, Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford recently explained on Twitter, is simple: Borderlands 4. "I wish we could’ve managed some big campaign DLC, but no way to do that *and* put the focus on Borderlands 4 that we needed to," he tweeted. "I’m sorry I couldn’t talk about it at the time, but the world is the world."

(Image credit: Randy Pitchford (Twitter))

Pitchford also denied the suggestion that Tiny Tina's Wonderlands was a failure, saying it was "far from a flop."

The timeline fits: Pitchford was hinting at a new Borderlands game way back in May 2021, nearly a year before Tiny Tina's Wonderlands rolled out, and while it was presumably early days at that point, Gearbox's attention was clearly already shifting to Borderlands 4. 

Also probably relevant is the fact that Tiny Tina's Wonderlands was not a full-fat game unto itself: Australian editor Jody Macgregor described it as "bigger than an expansion, smaller than a standalone Borderlands game" in his 70% review.

None of which is to say that Tiny Tina's Wonderlands is done forever. This is videogames, after all, where sequels reign supreme, and Pitchford has quite recently suggested that more is in store. In a July interview with GamesRadar, he said the success of Tiny Tina's Wonderlands is "something we can build on," and that "it's reasonable for our fans to expect more there." Just, y'know, not until sometime after Borderlands 4. Which, for the record, is currently slated to happen sometime in 2025.

Andy Chalk
Andy Chalk
US News Lead

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.