In a surprising move, Gearbox and Epic Games have announced ‘FortniteXMayhem,’ a new limited-time event in Fortnite. The Borderlands 3 Fortnite crossover event adds a variety of Borderlands-themed content to the battle royale title, ahead of the game’s September release date. That new content spans cosmetics, a new map zone, and a new Prefab.
FortniteXMayhem: The Borderlands 3 Fortnite Crossover Event
“The unprecedented FortniteXMayhem event creates the kind of chaos that gives Psycho Bandits their name,” reads the announcement post on the Borderlands website; “Get ready to drop into the Pandora Rift Zone, rock a full set of Psycho cosmetic gear, and unleash your anarchic artistry with the Pandora Prefab.”
Included in the Borderlands 3 Fortnite crossover event is the Psycho Bundle; a cosmetic bundle which includes the Psycho Bandit Outfit, Psycho Buzz Axes, and Claptrap Pet. Fortnite owners must buy this bundle themselves, unless they have pre-ordered Borderlands 3 on the Epic Games Store. If they have done so, the bundle is free to download. Note that this applies retroactively, so anybody who has already pre-ordered now has free access to the bundle. Although the event itself will eventually come to an end, the Psycho Bundle content will remain in the game. In fact, Epic Games Store users will be able to get the bundle free until the 31st of December 2020 if they purchase Borderlands 3!
Fan reactions to this event announcement seem to have been mixed at best. Dislikes on the trailer posted on the Borderlands channel outnumber likes by more than 2:1; a bad ratio on any sort of content. However, it’s fair to say that this event is probably not being marketed at existing Borderlands fans. More likely, Gearbox is hoping to boost the game’s visibility to a wider audience through Fortnite; after all, Fortnite has one of the largest gaming audiences in the world. It’s worth noting that, by comparison, the same trailer on Fortnite’s YouTube channel has over 38,000 likes, with less than 3,000 dislikes. Whether or not it will affect the game’s sales remains to be seen, but it seems to have gotten a positive reception from Fortnite’s fanbase so far.