In a 557-word post to end all posts, Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford fully lays out the “misunderstanding” over Borderlands 4 $80 comments: “I don’t want anyone to pay any more than they should”
In a 557-word post to end all posts, Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford fully lays out the “misunderstanding” over Borderlands 4 $80 comments: “I don’t want anyone to pay any more than they should”
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Someone got chewed out at an impromptu shareholders meeting.
What a numpty
Oh look someone got told they made a horrendously stupid comment
> “I don’t want anyone to pay any more than they should
“…and they absolutely SHOULD pay the 80$” he continued
Damage control mode : engaged
Here’s Randy’s full quote:
*I am sorry there was a misunderstanding. The absolute sincere truth is that I don’t want anyone to pay any more than they should or are comfortable with and I always work with the intent and hope that a customer always feels they got the better end of the deal no matter what they pay. The actual context was that a guy replied to a post about Borderlands 4 on the Nintendo Switch 2 was warning me that if the price ends up being $80, the game will fail. What I was trying to do was explain that it wasn’t my call but that if a $10 price increase does happen (since that’s obviously where the industry is going), it will be okay and that Borderlands 4 will be okay because it’s a great game and there are a lot of fans who will see the value and want it. I think my trying to short hand that using the phrase “real fans” triggered some people and I saw that it got inflated as if I was making some big statement (I wasn’t – I was just trying to help someone who I thought was sincerely worried about us and looking out for us) and I could see that it was being pressed into the idea that I was taking the audience for granted (which is a super shitty look, but it was not at all my intent and does not reflect at all how I feel). The sincere truth is that I’m grateful that anyone likes our games and humbled that so many fans show up to enjoy and support what we do. As an artist I don’t want prices to go up because I want everyone to have access to what we create. I get that business is a thing and that the market and economy are driving prices up and sooner or later we’re going to have to all adapt to that so that the creative engine can make at least as much as it spends to provide us with amazing content. Whatever the case, I’m here to try to entertain people and my priority has always been to try to add some joy and happiness and creativity to the world. To whatever extent I succeed at that, I am grateful and honored and take on every effort with passion and humility. May I recommend you consider the people who create entertainment you enjoy are actual, real people who sincerely are working to try to make cool stuff. I have dedicated my life to video games as entertainment and I have made the choice to be accessible on here. I don’t want to let edge cases ruin that for the majority of people who find value in using this medium for a positive connection, but I cannot help that there’s a part of me that doesn’t want to at least try to help those that don’t get it to gain some perspective and some dignity in how they choose to interact. I’m not claiming I’m perfect. But I don’t deserve any less latitude than anyone else. I choose to think of others with the most amount of charity and am often surprised to discover some that jump to the worst possible way to consider a thing as doing that is just counter to my nature.*
Too late for damage control Randy.
Well now I’m definitely waiting for it to go on sale
Boooo. He’s only apologizing because of outraged, he doesn’t care ome way or another
How hasn’t someone from Take Two told Randy Pitchford to shut his mouth and hire someone with social skills and at least above a doubt digit IQ to handle the company’s public speaking role?
Gosh he’s greasy
Still a fucking tool.
I believe that Randy, a multi-millionaire came to his senses and realizes that folks who don’t make a fraction of what he makes, can’t justify spending $80 on a game + DLC.
. . . And that it wasn’t other executives chewing his ass out and telling him to fix this and keep his mouth shut on this shit.
Bridge has been burnt
Not clear why he still has this job. Seems like these types of PR nightmares are a regular occurrence.
Randy lol
“And they should pay $80”
-Randy Pitchford probably said to himself after he finished his post.
I mean, as much as I love Borderlands, Randy is making it really easy to just not buy this game.
If we hit em where it hurts (the money) maybe they’ll fire this asshat and put someone who doesn’t talk out of their ass every time they try to tweet something “cool and hip@
It’s a classic case of ‘foot in mouth’ disease and I’m pretty sure this isn’t the first time Randy Pitchford made a dumbass comment and then backtracked on it.
Is gearbox publicly traded why aren’t share holders pushing this dumbass out
I’m still not going to get it till it gets dirt cheap like the rest of their titles
Randy, just put it in gamepass at this point, my boy.
I know gamers love when “greedy devs” get comeuppance or whatever, but I wish he’d just say, “I said what I said.”
Even if I don’t like the answer, I like when people say what they mean
Borderlands was always viewed as buy it when it’s cheap game to me anyways. CEOs need to stop gaslighting the customers
Too late now bud, just going to wait until it’s on sale.
And they should pay a lot lol
Honestly I’m gonna wait until it’s deeply discounted before I buy it. I got the other 3 plus all dlc and the tell tale games for like $35. I can wait a year or 2 to play.
Randy apologizing make this feel like the the straw that breaks the camel’s back…. Which is wild considering the bombs he’s already dropped on it.
Oh come now, “I don’t want anyone to pay any more than they should”, don’t double down on BS.
Do $80 dollar games actually make more money, aside from a game like GTA, of course? Publishers are under the assumption that their game will sell the same amount of copies as if they sold it for $50 or $60. I would pay $50 for Borderlands 4 but not $80. I’m assuming there are many gamers that think the same. 1 million copies at $80 dollars is less than 2 million copies at $50.
557 words? Real fans would write a 5000 word dissertation.
Never forget Randy Pitchford got away with having a USB drive of child porn under the guise of ‘research’
Also, he fired the claptrap voice actor because he confronted him about it.
What a complete garbage “I’m sorry you were offended” apology. Not that I expected anything different from Randy Pitchford, but still.
I know some, most here, disagree, but I don’t get an evil CEO vibe from him, just a loose mouth, maybe bit high on his own supply, stuck in wanna be rockstar mode-vibe…but I don’t think he hates the people that play his games or only worried about money and nothing else.
It’s good he clarified/apologized, whatever promoted it, there’s a lot of people in the industry that wouldn’t even bother or just solely blame other people.
I’m not saying he’s awesome, just maybe more irritating goof than worrisome oligarch, in my opinion anyway.
Don’t worry Randy, we wont.
All he had to do was keep his mouth shut, if the game launched at $80 he could have simply said it wasn’t my decision ask TakeTwo about it and let them get all the backlash.
This guy is so dumb. Literally just raise the price and when people complain, don’t say anything at all. Don’t say you had to, don’t say they’re cheap, don’t say indexed for inflation, don’t say rising costs of game development.
Just shut your mouth.
Let people complain and then most of them will buy your game.
This is a string of unforced errors.
Can’t backpedal your way out of entitled stupidity.
After his statement about how great the movie was, which came *after* other people who worked on the film said it was crap, I immediately started to see him as another run-of-the-mill corporate punching bag.
It’s the same thing here.
I’d rather greedy people come out and say, “Here it is, 80 bucks, take it or leave it.” Rather than have them act friendly to our face about how fans are important, while silently saying “IDGAF, give me your money.”
Not to mention, we don’t even know what the finished product looks like. New AAA releases are always met with skepticism on two fronts:
Does it run like it’s supposed to? (Aka: is it a buggy mess?)
Is it actually a good game? (Not just riding on previous glory.)
His incessant rambling about how great something is, that we can’t judge for ourselves, sounds like pre-written corporate bullshit. He can’t honestly answer those questions while having credibility on the product when he duped us before.
Nahh, I’m no longer interested. I waited until Borderlands 3 hit $5 so I can wait for this to drop down to $10.
Plus, my backlog is huge at the moment.
Nobody cares about Borderlands anymore