Borderlands 4's new 'cross-license' system breaks weapon manufacturer mod exclusivity

Borderlands 4's new cross-licensing part system gives players unprecedented freedom like never before, Gearbox explains.

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A bit ago, Gearbox announced that Borderlands 4 would have 30 billion guns. That's roughly 30x the astronomical amount of guns that could spawn in the previous game. How is this possible?

To ramp up all the different permutations and combinations, Gearbox essentially broke weapon mod exclusivity in Borderlands 4. Now gun modifiers aren't locked to a single manufacturer, and a gun can spawn with mods from multiple arms-makers like Maliwan, Torgue, Atlas, etc. It's something that the studio is very excited about, especially company CEO Randy Pitchford.

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In a recent interview with Insider Gaming, Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford was asked to explain the 30 billion gun figure and whether or not the number actually matters.

Q - There are 30 billion potential guns in Borderlands 4. How important is that number for you, or is it more of a marketing ploy?

A (Randy Pitchford) - "You know, we have Guinness World Record hanging on our wall from the most number of guns in a video game. We've beaten that record so many times ourselves.

"But it's not about that. We don't even think about the number, because it's not about the number--the number tends to be a consequence of our system.

"We have built a system for procedurally generating weapons that we've iterated on for over 20 years. I've been working on Borderlands games for over 20 years, and I've been working with a team of people who have been working on Borderlands games for over 20 years. We're starting to get pretty good at it.

"The systems that we have enable us to kind of go crazy with all kinds of different options with guns. It gets easy to do the things we've done before, and then it's fun to do additive stuff and come up with new ideas and put twists on things.

"One of the new systems that we've invented for Borderlands 4 is what we call the 'licensed parts system.'

"In Borderlands 3, you have different manufacturers that have different technologies that reflect each company. It's a great example of what that manufacturer is capable of. An Atlas weapon, for example, would have homing capabilities so you could shoot one bullet, lock that in, and every other bullet will home in on that first bullet. That's cool, but it's only available to Atlas.

"In Borderlands 4, the weapons manufacturers, ever the capitalists, have begun to license their technologies to other manufacturers.

"So now it's possible to find weapons like a Maliwan sniper rifle with Atlas tech, or Tediore-licensed parts integrated into that weapon.

"The possible combinations not only lead to more numbers, but lead to more options and gameplay which is what it's all about. And that's what we love."

Borderlands 4 releases on September 12, 2025 on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. It'll launch on Switch 2 in October.