Borderlands 4 Narrative Director Remains 'Firm' in His Criticism of Borderlands 3’s 'Overabundance of Toilet Humor'

ign.com:

Borderlands 4’s narrative director has hinted at a cut-back on the toilet humor the series is famous for.

Gearbox’s Sam Winkler tweeted to say he remains “firm” in his criticism of Borderlands 3’s “overabundance of toilet humor.”

Not at liberty to talk much about the content of BL4, but I remain firm in my criticism of BL3's overabundance of toilet humor.

Then, responding to a user who joked that they wouldn’t be able to use “the poop poop farty 4,000 while doing a mission to clean up porta-potties with my companion skibidi toilet!?!?!?” Winkler said: “I’m not gonna say there’s no toilets but if the word skibidi ships in the game under my watch I’m gonna cry real tears.”

I’m not gonna say there’s no toilets but if the word skibidi ships in the game under my watch I’m gonna cry real tears. Paul Tassi joked that we were gonna have a gun called Hawk 2A and a fellow dev asked me if it was real and I wanted to put my hand down the sink grinder

The Borderlands series, which began with the first game’s release in 2009, is known as much for its humor as it is its loot-driven gameplay. The tone of the jokes have remained relatively consistent throughout the franchise’s run, which takes in 2012’s Borderlands 2, 2014’s The Pre-Sequel, and 2019’s Borderlands 3. Indeed, toilet humor has served Borderlands well so far, with total franchise sales now up to an impressive 81 million copies. But the debut teaser trailer for Borderlands 4 suggested a darker tone this time, and the latest trailer, unveiled at The Game Awards 2024, reinforced this shift.

The TGA 2024 trailer showed snippets of first-person shooting and a few returning characters, including Claptrap.

Here's the official blurb from Gearbox:

"Borderlands 4 is about freedom and being badass,” said Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford. “This is by far the biggest and most insane world we’ve ever made - it's overloaded with jerkface ratnozzle scrote monsters that need to be put down with the most over-the-top hardcore nuts op guns and loot