On yesterday's Bonus Round on GameTrailers, Wedbush Morgan Analyst Michael Pachter had this to say about Borderlands, which releases tomorrow.
Sent to die. I think “Borderlands” is the definition of a game that should have had it’s own window and not be up against all this stuff. It’s absolutely the same audience. I don’t think it’s as much an RPG as they would like us to believe. If it’s an RPG, “Dragon Age” is going to kick its butt; and if it’s a shooter, “Call of Duty” or something else is going to kick its butt.
There's a wildcard at play though here that Mr. Pachter neglected, and that's the full extent of the co-op support that Borderlands has versus the other two games mentioned.
For one, Dragon Age has absolutely no co-op, RPG fans will have to look elsewhere for their co-op experience.
Modern Warfare 2? It has a co-op mode, one that many previews seem to say is a blast to play, but it's missing a core co-op component. Ya know, because it broke the experience.
So while some may think Borderlands will get lost in the shuffle this fall, I know there's quite a few people in our community that plan on picking it up. It'll do just fine, and things will keep going strong once the DLC hits down the road. It may not sell as well as it could had it been released earlier this year when there was a glut of gaming, but saying it will "die" is a stretch.