Borderlands’ absurd and goofy aesthetic is elevated by the existence of Vault Hunters in the game, some of whom are playable. For starters, these hunters live up to their name perfectly as their job is to hunt and loot treasure from various alien vaults.
These characters sport different designs and personalities, but have you ever wondered how these Vault hunters are created and who pitches them? Well, the answer to this secret will blow your mind, and honestly, it’s kind of genius and exactly the type of collaboration developers need.
Vault Hunters in Borderlands can be pitched by any developer within Gearbox Software
The official Borderlands channel on YouTube released an overview trailer titled ‘Making A Vault Hunter’ for Borderlands 4, in which Gearbox Software developers dive deep into what goes behind the creation of a Vault Hunter and how pitches turn into actual characters.
In the ‘Mayhem by Design’ section of the video, Lin Joyce, Managing Director of Narrative for Borderlands 4, lets out the wildest Vault Hunter secret by revealing that any developer in Gearbox can pitch a Vault Hunter and those pitches are narrowed down, sometimes combined to create the ideal character.
Anyone in the company can pitch a Vault Hunter. We play the game so much that we start to think about what we would want to see in it next. We collect pitches at the company level, we review those pitches and narrow it down. Often we’ll take elements of multiple pitches and put them together to make something even more badass. And then, it really goes to design.
The fact that there’s no specific team for developing and pitching ideas for a Vault Hunter and letting the developers do it is incredibly genius, considering that they have to play the game multiple times to ensure that everything works as intended, so their ideas fit the world of Borderlands like a glove.
Moreover, since anyone can pitch Vault Hunter ideas internally, the collected pitches are diverse from each other and oozing with different personalities that further help the development process and lead to every Vault Hunter standing out from each other.
Adam May, the art director of the upcoming looter-shooter, explained that the developers create Vault Hunters that everyone can relate to, including the devs themselves, which is another fantastic thought process that goes behind making these characters.
You want to get something that feels familiar and play as somebody you actually wanted to be in real life.
Borderlands 4 will also feature cool and badass Vault Hunters for players to play with, and it promises more of the goofiness and absurdity that we’ve come to know and love, with an expansive twist. While this ideation of Vault Hunters is genius, it still doesn’t wash away the fact that it might be horribly priced.
Badass Vault Hunters, unfortunately, cannot mask the rumored Borderlands 4 price
The creativity behind games comes from the developers, and it’s evident in Borderlands 4 from their Vault Hunter creation process. But as always, higher-ups are bound to be killjoys, and corporate greed takes the wheel over genuine passion for video games.
Borderlands 4 is rumored to have an $80 price tag, and while it’s still a rumor on the surface level, a series of tweets from Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford has led players to believe otherwise, resulting in major controversy in the community.
Pitchford clumsily defended an $80 price tag for Borderlands 4, saying that “If you’re a real fan, you’ll find a way to make it happen,” which is mind-bogglingly tone deaf, especially in a time where mass layoffs and price hikes characterise an entire industry.
He later apologised, but the damage had already been done by that time. The game is coming out in a few months, so only time will tell how much it will be and if it’s justified. Pre-orders are also expected to open soon, so let’s see if any more controversies ensue.
Borderlands 4 releases on September 12, 2025, for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
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