Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford teases a December 1 announcement

Gearbox Software will be announcing something new on December 1, according to a recent tweet by CEO Randy Pitchford. The word came down in a response a tweet from COG Connected, who jokingly suggested (in response to another tweet) that a Duke Nukem/Gears of War crossover would be a good idea. 

So, what could it be? Some new xenomorph, perhaps: Shortly after teasing the December 1 announcement, Pitchford retweeted the first poster for next year's Alien: Covenant film. I'd call that very unlikely. Gearbox is Aliens, not Alien, which is a far bigger distinction that it appears to be when it's just written down like that. Also, let's face it, Gearbox doesn't have the happiest history with xenomorphs.

Perhaps an actual Gears/Duke crossover? Not going to happen. A new Duke Nukem game? That's more likely, although calling it "new" might be a matter of interpretation: Gearbox's most recent (and, I think, most successful) Duke release was the 20th anniversary remaster of Duke Nukem 3D.

It may also be something as mundane as the promise release of the trial version of Battleborn. It's an awfully thin link to a Duke-related tweet, but Pitchford did say in September that one was coming and the Battleborn Day event took replace just a couple of weeks ago. If nothing else, the timing is right.

(Amazon has Battleborn on for $13 for Black Friday, by the way.  And speaking of Black Friday deals, we've got more of them in our roundups of sweet game sales and hardware bargains. )

I tossed my own tweet at the good Mr. Pitchford to see if he'd be willing to share any hints about what's coming, and this is what I got back.

Oh well, December 1 is only a week away. We'll be dreaming of an unlikely Borderlands 3 reveal until our hopes are dashed then.