Latest news with #RandyPitchford
Metro
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Metro
This week was low-key the worst in modern video game history - Reader's Feature
A reader is disturbed by the amount of bad news in the video game world at the moment, especially as most of it involves issues that have been brewing for many months. We are in a strange situation right now with video games, where almost all the news is terrible and yet great games continue to be released. This has the side effect of masking the serious issues from many gamers, who either don't know or don't care about what's really going on. As long as games as good as Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Monster Hunter Wilds are still coming out then everything must be fine, right? Wrong. What disturbed me this week, while reading the Metro, is that apart from job cuts (although they were implied) it had examples of all the biggest problems going on. What I found extra worrying is not only did they happen all at the same time but they're all long running issues that show absolutely no sign of being fixed. Perhaps the most obvious problem was the growing inevitability of £80 becoming the default price for big name games. At this point it'd be a victory if it only increases to £80, because GTA 6 will almost certainly be more. What was so awful about this week's news is that we had two big industry figures telling us that actually we shouldn't complain, we should get a second job to afford the games and just eat the cost. I wouldn't necessarily expect better from someone like Randy Pitchford, but hearing the ex-Sony guy saying that we shouldn't complain just shows how out of touch these execs and decision makers are. Increasing costs will lower the number of games people buy and that means a lot of titles and companies are just going to have the door slammed in their faces. People's money is not going to stretch as far as it used to and that is going to be a big problem for some games. Many are already predicting Marathon will either be a flop or just cancelled before it gets a chance, and it's not hard to see why. Nothing about it looks appealing and Sony seeming to be looking for any excuse to shut down Bungie completely, at the loss of hundreds of jobs. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Oh, and the reason for Bungie's downfall? Corporate greed, according to the people that used to work there. That's not exactly shocking news but there it is in black and white: all these problems could've been avoided if Bungie's bosses had thought of the company first and not themselves. But then we also had the revelation that the boss of Take-Two doesn't play video games and has no interest in trying out GTA 6, even though he totally could. This is also a massive non-surprise and probably very common in the games industry, where decisions are made on a spreadsheet and not from a place of passion or ambition. Sometimes they just seem to lack basic competence though, such as the lack of any plan for when games become too expensive and time consuming to make – a problem they must have seen coming years ago. This was illustrated perfectly this week by Hideo Kojima saying his Metal Gear spiritual sequel won't be out for five or six years, even though he announced it over a year ago. The amount of time it takes to make a game is out of control, but nobody is doing anything about it. And then to finish we had the rumour that Sony is only going to have a State of Play this summer, not a full showcase, or possibly have nothing at all in terms of not-E3 events. Thereby setting us up for another 12 months of no major announcements and only one or two releases. More Trending I don't want to get anyone down, but I do think it's important to point out that just because good games are still coming out it doesn't mean that it's not chaos behind the scenes, which ultimately is only going to lead to even greater disaster if none of the problems are dealt with. By reader Ollie The reader's features do not necessarily represent the views of GameCentral or Metro. You can submit your own 500 to 600-word reader feature at any time, which if used will be published in the next appropriate weekend slot. Just contact us at gamecentral@ or use our Submit Stuff page and you won't need to send an email. MORE: Star Wars Battlefront 3 needs to have these new features - Reader's Feature MORE: 5 reasons why I'm not buying a Nintendo Switch 2 this year - Reader's Feature MORE: Nintendo Switch 2 is going to be a third party port machine – Reader's Feature
Hindustan Times
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
Borderlands 4 Randy Pitchford controversy: How much will the game cost? CEO's final verdict
Randy Pitchford, CEO of video game developer Gearbox Software, sparked controversy after claiming that a 'real fan' would pay $80 for Borderlands 4, which releases on September 12. The company, however, has not confirmed any pricing details, amid fears that the game will be priced as much as $80. On May 13, a fan tagged Pitchford on X to post: 'Randy, this game better not be 80 dollars. Don't take that risk, alot of gamers aren't gonna pay 80 dollars and feed this notion of constant increase of the price tag You are the CEO, you have some say with the price when it comes to your publisher.' The CEO responded by reminding the fan that it is 'not my call'. "A) Not my call. B) If you're a real fan, you'll find a way to make it happen," he said on X, platform formerly known as Twitter. He further detailed how he saved money during his high school days by working for minimum wage. 'My local game store had Starflight for Sega Genesis for $80 in 1991 when I was just out of high school working minimum wage at an ice cream parlor in Pismo Beach and I found a way to make it happen,' Pitchford tweeted. However, his comments did not sit well with gamers, who expressed frustration with Nintendo's price premium for Switch 2 titles. 'Dawg we are NOT paying $80 for a Borderlands game fully knowing you'll do multiple season passes that cost another $100 and you'll probably sell weapon skins too😭😭😭' one person wrote. 'That has to be one of the worst CEO replies from recent memory 💀' another one added. Following on from the controversy, Pitchford made another tweet: "If you want the truth, here it is." He attached a clip from the recent Borderlands 4 panel at PAX East, during which, when asked how much Borderlands 4 would cost, Pitchford replied: "I'll tell you the truth – I don't know." He further explained that 'we've got a competitive marketplace where the people that make those choices want to sell as many units as possible, and they want to be careful about people that are price sensitive'. "There are other folks accepting the reality that game budgets are increasing, and there are tariffs for the retail packaging, and it's getting gnarly out there".
Forbes
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Gearbox's Randy Pitchford Responds To ‘Borderlands 4' Price Debacle
Borderlands 4 Gearbox Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford went extremely viral yesterday after a week-old tweet was passed around responding to a fan comment about a potential $80 price for Borderlands 4: 'A) Not my call. B) If you're a real fan, you'll find a way to make it happen. My local game store had Starflight for Sega Genesis for $80 in 1991 when I was just out of high school working minimum wage at an ice cream parlor in Pismo Beach and I found a way to make it happen.' The tweet inspired hundreds if not thousands of takes about its tone-deafness, plus gaming outlet coverage far and wide. It comes at a time when consumer spending power is dropping and prices are going up, and telling people if they're a 'real fan' they can make an $80 price work did not go over well, to say the least. Many fans said the tweet had derailed promotion for the game out in four months, others said they wouldn't play at all now. I find this at least…somewhat dramatic, and I have my doubts a tweet is going to significantly affect Bordlerands 4 sales this fall. But that price might. Today, Pitchford addressed the tweet by posting an older clip where he was asked about a potential price. It's a much more nuanced take on the issue, though it certainly seems to indicate that $80 is in the cards. Though this time, he says things like how he wants to create a value that fans will be happy with at any price, and addresses the plain fact that the production cost of Borderlands 4 is double that of Borderlands 3. I am no stranger to off-putting tweets from Pitchford as I've had some dust-ups myself. But a poorly-put tweet does in fact represent a larger reality (as explained in this video) about ballooning video game costs, which is true. I remember when it was revealed that Insomniac's Spider-Man 2 had triple the budget of the first game despite using a barely larger version of the same city and a second hero that had already been created for a spin-off. This is certainly not to say that $80 is the right call. Consumer only just got used to the $70 increase from $60 a few years ago, and now this leap to $80, spearheaded by Nintendo and its Mario Kart World pricing, is irritating and exhausting when 4-5 games will now be the cost of an entire console by themselves. This is what's going to happen, however. The dam has broken. In a year and a half at most, you are going to see practically all AAA games priced at $80. There is fan theorizing about Borderlands 4 publisher Take Two trying to push that even further for the release of GTA 6, the biggest game of all time, seeing if they could get to $100 or more. However, this leaves room for smaller games and smaller studios to shine. The highest rated games of the year are $50 or under, including GOTY frontrunner Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 along with Blue Prince and Split/Fiction. So that's an opportunity there. It's a bad tweet. It also reflects an unfortunate reality that's coming no matter what. Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, Bluesky and Instagram. Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
《邊緣禁地4》真的要賣80美元？執行長：如果你是粉絲就想辦法買下去
2K Games 旗下 Gearbox Software 開發中的新作《邊緣禁地4》（Borderlands 4），此前 Gearbox 執行長 Randy Pitchford 才表示不清楚遊戲該賣多少。但最近 Pitchford 卻被發現，先前回應網友關於《邊緣禁地4》的售價問題時，就表示：「如果你是《邊緣禁地》粉絲就會買」。 此前，一名玩家擔心《邊緣禁地4》的售價會高達 80 美元，在 Randy Pitchford 的 X（推特）留言，希望他們不要冒險，否則很多玩家不會願意花 80 美元買這遊戲，因為會助長價格上漲的風氣。並認為 Pitchford 是開發商執行長，肯定在售價上有一定的發言權。 但對此，Pitchford 卻不認同這說法，回應：「A) 這不是我能決定的。 B) 如果你是真粉絲，你就會想辦法買下它。我在 1991 年時，家裡附近的電玩店有一片 SEGA Genesis（Mega Drive）主機的《星際航艦》（Starflight），售價 80 美元，我才剛剛從高中畢業，在皮斯摩海灘的冰淇淋店打工，領最低的薪資，但我還是想辦法買到了。」 A) Not my call. B) If you're a real fan, you'll find a way to make it happen. My local game store had Starflight for Sega Genesis for $80 in 1991 when I was just out of high school working minimum wage at an ice cream parlor in Pismo Beach and I found a way to make it happen. — Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) May 14, 2025 而 Pitchford 的回應卻不被網友們買單，有人嘲諷《邊緣禁地4》80 美元，但玩過這系列的都知道，後面還會推出季票，或是各種造型：「這絕對是近期最糟的執行長回應」、「我等不及看到這款遊戲失敗」、「別用通貨膨脹那一套，我們的薪水可沒有」。 緊貼最新科技資訊、網購優惠，追隨 Yahoo Tech 各大社交平台！ 🎉📱 Tech Facebook： 🎉📱 Tech Instagram： 🎉📱 Tech WhatsApp 社群： 🎉📱 Tech WhatsApp 頻道： 🎉📱 Tech Telegram 頻道：
Geek Culture
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Culture
Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford Addresses 'Borderlands 4' US$80 Price Hike, Claims It Won't Be Issue For 'Real Fans'
Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford has made some controversial comments surrounding the potential US$80 price tag of its upcoming looter-shooter Borderlands 4 , claiming that 'real fans' will find a way to fork over the cash when the sequel launches on 12 September this year. Pitchford took to X\Twitter in response to a fan's post stating that the game had 'better not be 80 dollars', to which he explained that the game's pricing was not his call, before proceeding to dismiss the pricing concerns. 'If you're a real fan, you'll find a way to make it happen.' he wrote, 'My local game store had Starflight for Sega Genesis for $80 in 1991 when I was just out of high school working minimum wage at an ice cream parlour in Pismo Beach and I found a way to make it happen.' Unsurprisingly, Pitchford's comments didn't go well with the Borderlands community, sparking negative backlash across the board, with fans posting comments like 'That has to be one of the worst CEO replies from recent memory,' or 'Just don't buy it. Talk with your money. If you're a true fan, you won't accept them pricing people out. This one's US$80, the next game will be US$100 and continue to rise. Say no,' with many insinuating that they pirate the game instead of paying for its hefty price tag. Of course, this doesn't mean that the game would actually cost US$80 when it launches, with Pitchford stating earlier this month that he doesn't know how much the game would be priced at. 'It's going to be the people at the publishing house that decide that. We'll know soon. I think it's going to be fine, whatever the [price is]. It's worth it.' he explained at the time. With the direction the industry is going, it won't be surprising if Borderlands 4 does end up being US$80, with other major names, such as Nintendo and Microsoft, having already announced price hikes for their upcoming games. While publisher Take-Two has seen a more cautious approach with their game prices, with the upcoming Mafia: The Old Country only costing US$50, it remains to be seen which direction Borderlands 4 will take as it approaches its release on 12 September 2025. Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise 'duds' like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3 . He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying. Borderlands 4 Gearbox Software Randy Pitchford
