Borderlands 2 Xbox 360

With the unexpected success of the first game, Gearbox was able to secure a budget of $30–35 million to develop the sequel. Like its predecessor, the game adopted the "concept art style", which features graphics inspired by both photorealistic imagery and comic-book-inspired visuals. The team attempted to address players' feedback from the first game, and recruited Anthony Burch who wrote the game's script which is seven times longer than that of the original game. Among the game's diverse cast of characters, Handsome Jack, the central antagonist, was created to be a charismatic "douche" that mirrors Burch's own personality. Borderlands 2 was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in September 2012, and it was ported to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One as part of The Handsome Collection in March 2015.

The game received universal acclaim upon release. Critics generally praised the game's visuals, writing, gameplay, and online multiplayer, as well as its variety of guns, while criticising its mission design and content fillers. The handheld and the virtual reality versions of the game were regarded to be inferior to the console and PC versions. More than 20 million units were shipped upon release and the game became 2K's most successful release. It was nominated for multiple year-end accolades by several gaming publications. Gearbox supported the game with four add-on campaigns, new characters and five content packs. The game was followed by Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel in October 2014, and Borderlands 3 in September 2019. Since its release, it has been cited as one of the greatest video games ever made.