Fans Revive Borderlands Online: Great Victory for Media Preservation

In a significant achievement for game preservation, dedicated fans of the Borderlands franchise have gained early access to the long-lost MMO Borderlands Online. The project, started a few months ago by modder and dataminer EpicNNG, reached a crucial milestone, with a team of players finally managing to get into the game, which was shut down in 2015. While there is still a lot of work ahead to make the game fully playable, this progress represents a notable victory in the battle against the loss of digital content.

Fans of Borderlands celebrate the early access to Borderlands Online, marking a major step in preserving the deactivated Chinese MMO.

The project to revive Borderlands Online gained prominence in April 2025, when EpicNNG (Epic) brought the forgotten MMO back into the spotlight. Originally planned for exclusive release in China, Borderlands Online was discontinued in 2015. However, Epic found a build of the game online and was determined to "ensure that the community can experience this game in one way or another".

The challenge of reviving the MMO was never simple. Even getting past the login screen was a major victory. Since then, the team has faced numerous obstacles, leading Epic to post a video asking for help from any Borderlands community member who could contribute to restoring the MMO. Now, a new "glimpse of hope" has emerged with "significant" progress.

"BREAKING NEWS: A TEAM HAS MADE IT IN TO BORDERLANDS ONLINE!" declared Epic in a new post on Twitter, sharing a screenshot of the game in action. "The game is not yet fully playable, and will take a long time to get it in a fully playable state, but one of the teams has managed to get in and can access various aspects of the game."

Epic added: "This has taken a long time to happen, and for safety reasons I obviously can't say much. But for those curious about the progress, know that it has happened. History has been made. The third infinity stone of Borderlands has been obtained."

Although the game is not fully revived yet, EpicNNG classified the achievement as "a massive victory for media preservation". For many, this initiative is the first time they have even heard of the existence of Borderlands Online, highlighting the importance of fan preservation projects to document and make accessible titles that would otherwise be lost in gaming history.

The preservation of digital games, especially those relying on online servers, is a growing challenge in the industry. With companies like EA shutting down servers for older titles, community action is crucial. While EpicNNG acknowledges that the game may be "bad", the main goal is preservation and the possibility to "play it with friends", as well as archiving the shooter. The hope is that this progress is a good omen for the future, with the team aiming to make the MMO fully playable at some point.