Australian 2K Borderlands Pre-Sequel dev to close
For cost and proximity reasons.
Publisher 2K has confirmed the upcoming closure of Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel developer 2K Australia.
"We can confirm we have taken steps to begin the studio closure process for 2K Australia in order to better manage ongoing development costs while improving the working proximity of our creative teams," confirmed the publisher in a statement.
"We are very grateful for the team's valuable contributions to numerous 2K projects, and are working with affected staff to explore reassignment opportunities where possible."
Kotaku Australia broke the story having been tipped off by a source. That source said "all hands are gone", and that it was the costs associated with operating out of Australia that were to blame.
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel wasn't a disaster by any stretch of the imagination. It was decent, just not great - not great like Borderlands 2. "Too big for DLC yet not different enough for a sequel," wrote Dan Whitehead in our Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel review.
2K Australia, based in Australia's capital city Canberra, was formed in 2000, and has mostly complimented development of 2K games made predominantly elsewhere. Most notably 2K Australia worked on the BioShock series, then the XCOM shooter The Bureau.
According to Kotaku Australia, 2K Australia was the last remaining triple-A studio operating out of the country.
Meanwhile, lead Borderlands studio Gearbox is hiring for development of Borderlands 3 - "the big one", as it calls it. Maybe some of the potential reassignments mentioned above will relocate 2K Australia staff there, albeit 13,848km away.
