Development images for two long-rumored titles have surfaced online, reigniting speculation about Gearbox’s next moves: a sequel to the fantasy spinoff Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands and a brand-new entry in the World War II shooter series Brothers in Arms. The work-in-progress screenshots were published by the gaming media outlet MP1st, which noted that both projects were reportedly in development at Lost Boys Interactive, the studio that built the original Wonderlands and returned to independence last year following Embracer Group’s 2024 sale of Gearbox to Take-Two Interactive.
While the leaked material offers little concrete detail about the games themselves, it does confirm that both titles were actively being worked on at a point in time. The images raise pointed questions about the industry’s shifting landscape: were these projects scrapped as part of Gearbox’s transition to Take-Two ownership, or do new versions of each game still exist somewhere within the studio’s pipeline? IGN has reached out to Gearbox for comment.
A Sequel That Was Supposed to Be Inevitable
The emergence of Wonderlands sequel footage is especially notable given the commercial and critical success of the original 2021 release. Lost Boys Interactive developed the game as a fantasy-themed spinoff of Gearbox’s hugely successful Borderlands franchise, and its performance exceeded the company’s expectations. In 2022, Gearbox chief Randy Pitchford publicly framed the title as more than a mere expansion of an existing IP.
“Wonderlands shattered all of our target expectations, both critically and commercially,” Pitchford said during an Embracer Group annual general meeting. “And I’m thrilled to report that in addition to great financial rewards from this victory that will be coming our way in the coming quarters, we have established a firm beachhead, and we now clearly have a new franchise on our hands.”
At the time, Pitchford’s comments suggested that follow-up content was already on the horizon. Yet since that statement, nothing has materialized. Despite the commercial triumph that made a sequel seem inevitable, Gearbox has yet to announce its next project following last year’s release of Borderlands 4, leaving fans to wonder whether the sequel’s development was quietly shelved during the studio’s corporate transition.
Brothers in Arms Returns to the Front Lines
The Brothers in Arms leak carries its own weight of history. The franchise’s last mainline entry was 2008’s Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway, a critically acclaimed WWII shooter that defined the series for a generation. Attempts to revive the IP have been troubled: a fourth installment, Furious 4, was ultimately cancelled and repurposed into the ill-fated hero shooter Battleborn.
Despite these setbacks, Pitchford has repeatedly signaled over the years that a new Brothers in Arms game was on the horizon. That promise never materialized, and the recent appearance of development images suggests the concept may have been revisited at Lost Boys Interactive. The timing is curious, given that the studio’s most recent public work has centered on the Borderlands universe rather than a return to the war-torn setting that defined the original series.
Looking Ahead
As of now, the released images tell us little beyond the fact that both games were in active development. The critical question remains whether these projects were casualties of Gearbox’s sale to Take-Two, or whether they represent dormant assets that could resurface in future form. The industry has grown accustomed to studios quietly pivoting their rosters during ownership transitions, and Lost Boys Interactive’s independence offers an intriguing new variable in that equation.
For now, the community is left to speculate about what these leaked frames reveal and what they conceal. Whether Gearbox will revisit the fantasy world of Wonderlands or bring the Brothers in Arms saga back to life remains to be seen, but the evidence suggests both ideas were once very much alive on the studio’s drawing board.
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