Borderlands boss Randy Pitchford submitted an-all timer entry into the pantheon of neoliberal thirst tweets earlier this week, telling a player concerned about a potential $80 asking price for Borderlands 4 that “if you’re a real fan, you’ll find a way to make it happen”, before telling an anecdote about how, when he were a lad, he used to lick the fleas from unwashed goats for quarters to play Bubble Bobble, or something.
This went down about as well as you’d expect, prompting Pitchford to yesterday follow-up with a clip of him on a panel talking about a potential price increase in, wait for it, much more sober and considered terms. So, in the interest of not only reporting on Pitchford when he says something incredibly stupid (although, lets be real, only because it’s related, I’m still muckraking here) here’s the clip.
When asked about the game’s price, Pitchford says he doesn’t know. “It’s an interesting time, right? We’ve got a competitive marketplace. We want people to buy it so we’ve got the resources to make more. The people that make those choices want to sell as many units as possible, and they want to be careful about people who are price-sensitive. We want everyone who buys and plays a Gearbox game to feel certain they got the better end of the bargain.”
“Game budgets are increasing,” he continues. “There’s tariffs for the retail packaging. It’s getting gnarly out there. Borderlands 4 has more than twice the development budget (of 3)”. Then he veers off to talk about his philosophy of entertainment, etc.
There’s surely debates to be had about some of the points Pitchford raises although, crucially, none of it puts the onus on “fans” to be “real” enough to go lick fleas from goats for pennies. Why didn’t you just say all this in the first place, Pitchford? I understand Twitter is where nuance goes to die, but don’t tell me that you’re above long threads now. Also, no, having a character in Borderlands 4 reference your original tweet to reframe your idiot posting as a charming foible will not absolve you of this. Although it would at least be refreshingly recent as far as Borderlands references go.
