Borderlands 3 will not be preloadable

It's common practice for digital storefronts like Steam to provide a "preload" period ahead of a game's release, so that the moment it goes live, hot-to-trot fans can dive face-first into it immediately rather than having to wait for it to download. (It also helps keep those hot-to-trot fans from demolishing servers as they all try to download it at precisely the same moment.) For the upcoming Borderlands 3, however, that's not going to be an option.

What's surprising in this is that "Enable Pre-loading" is actually marked as being enabled in the EGS roadmap on Trello, which says that Epic "released pre-load functionality to 3rd party games on the store" in May. So what's the deal? Epic boss Tim Sweeney described the situation as "complicated."

"We've released support for file preloading which is sufficient for some games, but we aren't certain it's up to the demands of a blockbuster like Borderlands," he tweeted. 

But then to complicate things further, he expressed confidence that Epic's servers will be up to the task of handling the crush of excited Borderlanders who will all be smashing their "download now!" buttons simultaneously when BL3 goes live.

A number of people responding to Sweeney's tweet have expressed doubt about his explanation, but if Epic is willing to take a high-profile PR hit on what should be one of its biggest releases yet—because you know this is going to come up repeatedly between now and the Borderlands 3 launch on September 13, every time someone asks when preloading starts—then I'm inclined to think that the concerns he cited have to be serious. I've reached out to Epic for more information and will update if I receive a reply.