Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford has responded to Borderlands review bombers on Steam, saying that he is ‘kind of happy’ that 2K made Borderlands 3 and Epic Games Store exclusive.
This comes after fans were left unhappy after the announcement of Borderlands 3 to be coming out as an Epic Games Store exclusive, prompting many to review bomb the older titles of the series on Steam.
Ironically, that this misuse is possible and that Steam has no interest in correcting this misuse makes me kind of happy about 2k’s decision and makes me want to reconsider Gearbox Publishing’s current posture on the platform.
— Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) April 5, 2019
Randy’s comment was in reply to a Gearbox developer Scott Velasquez who stated that such a review system was being misused by people and accusing Steam for allowing it. Randy also added that this situation “makes me want to reconsider Gearbox Publishing’s current posture on the platform.
The announcement that was recently made about Borderlands 3 was quickly turned to rage among fans when the exclusivity was announced recently. Epic will have exclusivity of the game until April 2020.
In the same thread, a fan commented that Gearbox has brought this onto themselves by making such a deal, to which Randy told off the person by saying “Kindly f**k off, troll.”
“I wouldn’t hit you if you didn’t deserve it. It’s your fault I am hitting you.” WTF is wrong with you and this victim blaming bullshit. Kindly fuck off, troll.
— Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) April 5, 2019
It is apparently clear that Pitchford is aggravated by the situation and bearing the brunt of gamer outrage. This despite stating multiple times that the decision was ultimately 2K’s and not Gearbox’s. Over the past days, Pitchford has replied to many tweets stating that 2K has made this decision, but fans were not buying it.
Sorry? You can believe what you want, but some people believe the Earth is flat and 9/11 was a US Government job and that JFK was killed by Castro. Conspiracy beliefs not based on fact but based on your personal bias are not the path to truth and reason.
— Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) April 5, 2019
1) This is a publisher gripe, not a developer gripe. 2) Switch is pretty rad if you really need to spend that money!
— Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) April 5, 2019
Though this is an understandable sentiment, especially from the perspective of a developer, it is not true that Valve is turning a blind eye to the review bombing issue. Just last month, Steam has implemented a system that ignores off topic reviews. This essentially means that the store detects sudden upticks in review activity and excludes those reviews from the aggregate score.
Still, the comments by Randy portray a sense of frustration that the developers have expressed already with Steams review bombing issue.
Borderlands 3 is set to launch for the PS4, Xbox One, and PC. The PC version of the game will come out exclusively on the Epic Games Store on 13 September, 2019. What do you think of Randy Pitchford’s comments? Post your comments below.
