Borderlands 3 laid out its first three months of DLC in a nice, easy to understand package which Gearbox dubbed the 2019 Fall/Winter DLC Roadmap. This reveal and the additional content that came along with it set a precedent which many fans expected the game to follow well into the next year, but now that the Spring 2020 DLC roadmap has finally released, most predictions have been thrown off quite substantially. Ultimately, it seems that Gearbox is sticking with three main types of content; in game events like October's Bloody Harvest, takedowns like the one at the Maliwan Blacksite, and paid story DLCs like Mad Moxxi's Heist for the Handsome Jackpot, but the order and timing of this content has changed substantially.
For those unaware, the original Borderlands 3 Fall/Winter DLC Roadmap looked something like this: The game released in September, October saw a Halloween Seasonal event, November brought the game's first add on takedown mission, and then December closed out the year and the season with a new story DLC. Curiously, though, the same did not happen in January, February, and March, the first two of which never even made it onto a roadmap. Now, the Spring 2020 DLC Roadmap shows that March will be bringing the next Story DLC, April will bring the in game event, and May sees the introduction of the next takedown.
Incorrect Borderlands 3 Predictions
Originally, it was thought that the pattern of seasonal event, takedown, and story DLC would be followed strictly throughout the entirety of 2020. This would see January, April, July, and October as the seasonal events (likely something winter, Easter, 4th of July, and Halloween related respectively), February, May, August, and November as new takedown missions, and March, June, September, and December as the next four story DLCs, rounding out the year quite nicely. What these prediction didn't take into account is the decision to release no major content in January and to use February as a seasonal event for Valentine's Day.
Interestingly, although this clearly ended up being false, there are still some correlation between this way of thinking and the new Roadmap and DLC release date. Under the old pattern, March, April, and May would be a story DLC, a seasonal event, and a takedown respectively, but in two separate roadmaps. It is possible that the main reason for the lull in activity in January and the seemingly sudden Valentine's day event was to line up the roadmaps with the seasons properly. It also makes sense that Gearbox would not limit itself with a pattern when it would be better to put a seasonal event on a holiday month.
New Borderlands 3 DLC Predictions (Method 1)
With this new DLC release date for Guns, Love, and Tentacles, the future of Borderlands 3 is a little more uncertain. There are a couple potential theories that work to explain the decisions made by Gearbox. For example, when looking at the original Fall/Winter DLC Roadmap released last year, what if it is instead split up into the two separate seasons? Using this method, there is a much clearer pattern to follow than before, with the exception that January did throw some things off.
The first month of Fall, September, saw the release of the game itself, which in a way relates to the story DLCs that have released since. This is the first major, paid content drop for Borderlands 3, after all. October, the second month of Fall, brought the Halloween event, Bloody Harvest, and November, the final month, brought the first takedown mission. Observant fans will notice that this pattern seems to hold up to an extent. December, being the first month of Winter, brings the first paid story DLC, January was inexplicably void of content, and February sees the game's second seasonal event.
Again, the placement of takedown missions and seasonal events will likely switch back and forth throughout the year in order to better accommodate the actual holidays which these events are typically based on. Still, the Spring 2020 Roadmap and the March release date of Guns, Love, and Tentacles corroborates this theory with a story DLC followed by a seasonal event and a takedown. This is one possible explanation, but there are other theories to explain the strange mix up of DLC schedule with equal merit. This method does seem the most grounded in reality, however.
The Future of Borderlands 3
Another possibility is that Gearbox isn't intending to follow any specific kind of pattern at all, and that fans and content creators are simply looking too far into things. It is true that at face value, though the DLC Roadmaps revealed thus far have had some similarities, they are quite different from one another. Could it be that Gearbox is simply releasing content as it sees fit? Even with this mindset, predictions can be made about the future of add on content for Borderlands 3, as there are still some constants which Gearbox is not likely to simply abandon out of the blue.
For one, in game seasonal events are not going to stop, and they will most probably line up with major, real life holidays. Although there isn't any obvious connection between Revenge of the Cartels and Easter or April Fool's Day, it is possible that Gearbox will pull something to make such a connection. Takedowns and story DLCs are similarly unlikely to vanish, it is just the order in which they come that remains a mystery. Ultimately, conjecture doesn't prevent Gearbox from throwing fans off their trail with empty months like January or starting a season with a DLC immediately after ending a season with one.
What else would fans expect from developers best known for a game in which the concept of mayhem is such a staple? Regardless of how Gearbox handles Borderlands 3 DLC moving forward, fans have a lot to look forward to. After the briefest scare in January, Gearbox has proved that it has no intention of dropping support for Borderlands 3 anytime soon and will likely continue to be as generous with its content, both free and paid, as it has over the last half a year. Only time will tell in what way this generosity takes form.
Borderlands 3 is available now for PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One. Guns, Love, and Tentacles releases March 26th.