Today, you might consider Borderlands a tired franchise. The recent film adaptation lost more than $100 million at the box office and scored poorly with reviewers, including our own two stars Borders Review. Borderlands 2despite its launch over a decade ago, remains the highest rated game in the series’ history. The new games in the series please fans but change little to convince detractors. While that may be what the show looks like today, it was a different story when Gearbox launched the first Borderlands 15 years ago.

By injecting its shooter with an infusion of skill trees, randomized weapons, and Diablo-like cooperative play, Gearbox discovered a formula that changed the industry. It wasn’t the first looter shooter, but it defined the new genre. Additionally, the team has also found the key to creating successful live service games outside of MMOs. Looking back, it’s also easy to forget that Borderlands wasn’t destined for success: Gearbox was taking a huge risk, because the only developer who had ever attempted something similar was a resounding failure.

Learn from the masters