14 DAY TRIAL // Steve Allison, senior vice president of publishing at Telltale Games, says that the initial decision to work with Gearbox on Tales from the Borderlands came after the two teams discussed their gaming philosophies over cocktails.
The executive tells Polygon that, “We were backstage at the Spike VGAs. And Gearbox was sitting at table one and we were sitting at table two — we were there for The Walking Dead. We got to talking a little bit, and I don't remember when it the night it became, ’we should do this thing’, but it happened over a few cocktails.”
Initially, the two teams were only interested in learning from each other, but as the conversation expanded, they saw potential for a crossover product that could attract fans of adventure games while also satisfying long-term Borderlands lovers.
Allison adds, “The Borderlands universe has so much story potential, all those great characters. There's a narrative there in Borderlands 2 but it serves a certain purpose, and we can serve a difference purpose with it for fans of the franchise.”
Telltale Games finally made the decision to create an official pitch for Tales from the Borderlands and Gearbox was impressed with its vision and decided to collaborate on the project.
The game will use an episodic structure and the first release is expected to take place in 2014 on a variety of home consoles and mobile devices, but the project does not have an official launch window.
Telltale Games has not offered any details on the core mechanics or on who will be the main characters of the new adventure title.
The studio is at the moment focused on launching the second episode of the Second Season for The Walking Dead and on the next installment in The Wolf Among Us, which is based on the Fables comic book universe.