Bungie Reportedly in Early Talks for a Destiny-Style Borderlands 1 Remake

Every so often a gaming rumour arrives that sounds either brilliant or completely made up, with very little room in between. The latest: Bungie, the studio behind Destiny, is supposedly in early talks with Sony, 2K, and Gearbox Software to remake the original Borderlands — not as a spruced-up remaster, but as an open-world, live-service looter shooter with seasonal paid content.

What the leak actually claims

The claim comes from Destiny content creator Trance, who posted the details on YouTube, citing a colleague who reportedly works in business development at 2K. According to the leak, the project was pitched as an open-world game in the vein of Borderlands 4, restructured around Destiny-style live-service systems.

The most striking detail is what would happen to the cast. Rather than picking from the original’s preset Vault Hunters — Roland, Lilith, Mordecai, and Brick — the remake would reportedly use semi-customisable protagonists, similar to Destiny’s Guardians. That’s not a remake in the traditional sense; it’s closer to rebuilding the game from the studs out. Worth remembering that Borderlands 1 already got an official do-over in 2019 with Borderlands: Game of the Year Enhanced, which kept the original structure intact. This rumoured version would be something else entirely.

The leak doesn’t stop there. Trance also claims Gearbox would develop a Borderlands 2 remake as a limited-time PlayStation 6 exclusive if the deal goes through. Given the PS6 hasn’t been announced, let alone dated, that part of the rumour is doing a lot of heavy lifting.

Why the scepticism is warranted

The sourcing here is thin. Trance is a Destiny content creator, not an established leaker, and this entire story rests on a single second-hand account. VICE, which reported the rumour, flags exactly that. Sony, Gearbox, and 2K have all stayed silent, and even the leak itself describes the talks as “early discussions” — the stage at which most pitched projects quietly die. Remake pitches falling apart behind closed doors is hardly unheard of; FromSoftware reportedly rejected Bluepoint’s Bloodborne remake pitch despite Sony’s interest.

That said, the rumour isn’t completely absurd on its face. Bungie built its modern reputation on loot-driven shooters, and Borderlands essentially invented the genre’s other lane. If any studio were going to turn Pandora into a live-service world, Bungie is the plausible candidate — which is presumably why the leak names them.

Where Bungie actually stands

The timing gives the rumour its intrigue. Bungie went through major layoffs in June, with nearly half the workforce reportedly affected, and previous reporting from Forbes’ Paul Tassi indicated the studio had no additional projects greenlit beyond its current slate. Officially, Marathon remains Bungie’s primary announced project, complete with a multi-year story roadmap.

So a big new co-development deal would be a genuine surprise given the studio’s current state — though it’s also exactly the sort of thing a publisher might explore to keep a downsized team busy. Until a second, credible source corroborates any of this, file it firmly under speculation. There’s nothing to pre-order, wishlist, or plan around here, and there may never be.