At the Borderlands 3 reveal a couple of days ago Gearbox Studios head Randy Pitchford made a special note to say that the game will feature "fun customisations like heads and skins, but we're not doing any of that free-to-play junk. There's not going to be any microtransactions, there's not going to be any of that nonsense." Which then sparked a bit of controversy because the game will indeed feature purchasable skins.

With Randy responding to Game Informer via Twitter confirming that he was referring to loot-boxes, pay-to-win mechanics, and so forth. Here's the initial exchange.

Come on guys - shitty clickbait headline. Literally seconds before I said that, I made it very clear we’re going to do more cosmetic stuff like we did in Borderlands 2. You know I was talking about premium currency and loot boxes kind of stuff NOT being in our game.

— Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) May 1, 2019

That was followed by an expletive filled rant.

With the clarification coming from 2K and Randy's confusing statements confirming that Borderlands 3, in addition to campaign DLC ala previous entries, will also feature purchasable skins and heads. Which are technically 'microtransactions' - so, a case of semantics. The good news is that Borderlands 3 won't include loot boxes and other pay-to-win options that deservedly garner widespread criticism. That said, Randy's reaction to Game Informer's article was as they say, 'over-the-top'.