Strauss Zelnick: Changing the visual style of the first Borderlands cost $50 million

Such an amount was mentioned by Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick in an interview with podcaster David Senra.

Borderlands

Zelnick explained the situation with the first Borderlands as an example of decisions that test a business’s resilience. He noted that the game was initially supposed to look very different—it was envisioned to be darker and more realistic, but at the last moment, Gearbox Software, which was developing it, wanted to change everything.

As Zelnick recalls, two months before the proposed release of Borderlands, one of the executives from Gearbox Software came to his office and stated that the game was almost ready, but its visuals were unsatisfactory. He requested an additional $50 million beyond the already spent funds and another year for development. It was a significant risk, but after thorough consideration, the head of Take-Two Interactive agreed to take it. As a result, Borderlands adopted its recognizable cel-shaded style.

“Had we not done that, Borderlands wouldn’t have been a hit. And that was a nonobvious decision. And I pretty much can assure you no one else in the business would have done it.” Zelnick added.

Zelnick did not disclose the total budget of the first Borderlands, but it was previously assumed to be not very large. In 2012, Gearbox Software CEO Randy Pitchford stated that the development of Borderlands 2 cost $30-35 million and noted that this was several times the budget of the original.