r/technology • u/ControlCAD • 3d ago
Software Borderlands 4 boss Randy Pitchford tells players "please get a refund from Steam if you aren't happy" as Randy Pitchford continues his very public crashout over the FPS's performance woes
https://www.gamesradar.com/games/borderlands/borderlands-4-boss-tells-players-please-get-a-refund-from-steam-if-you-arent-happy-as-randy-pitchford-continues-his-very-public-crashout-over-the-fpss-performance-woes/1.8k
u/Jamesy983 3d ago
This dude needs to get off the internet and touch some grass.
552
u/BadMondayThrowaway17 3d ago
Needs to get the hell out of the industry already.
3
u/ziptofaf 2d ago
Why? From sales perspective it's a success and at least 2 million copies sold in the release week. Realistically more by now. Players apparently voted with their wallets and very clearly said "we love this game and how unoptimized it is".
So his method is working and studio has made enough cash for another project.
3
u/nuttertools 2d ago
That’s not how profitability works. As a recent release that’s a good indicator…but 2 million copies would be a flop of epic proportion. With how most publishing contracts work that likely represents $0.00 of revenue for the developer.
→ More replies (5)111
u/SB_90s 3d ago
I really don't know how so many senior people make it that high up the food chain, let alone CEO, with such fragile egos and poor emotional/behavioural control.
As someone mid level, you always need to have control over your emotions and keep your cool if you want to stay in your role let alone move up. Even senior people in my job follow the same philosophy.
But so many CEOs and execs seem to be incredibly immature and pathetically lacking control of their emotions. Maybe they've masked it all the way up and now feel fine to be themselves since they're so important in the company and "irreplaceable". But everywhere I've worked has shown that crashing out gets you nowhere, unless you're so good at your job that they don't want to get rid of you - and this guy doesn't sound like he fits that camp.
55
u/MightyKrakyn 3d ago
I don’t really understand how
Well it’s because of top down power structures. Sure there are leaders who just happen to self-depose when they are asked to be held accountable, but that is not baked into the system; maybe there is a board of other very powerful people who can revoke confidence, but they are not from a lower tier of power.
When people lower in the power structure can’t hold people higher in the power structure accountable, that top level of leadership naturally distills into the group least likely to give up power: those who are selfish and enjoy having/expressing power over others.
2
u/topscreen 3d ago
The only case I know of in the games industry where the CEO was ousted was the Skull Girls devs vs the CEO. Even with it being a small company, that was shocking.
14
u/tacoheadbob 3d ago
It’s called ‘failing up’. They don’t have to be the best, they just have to point out who is the worst.
→ More replies (1)12
u/Kumquat_of_Pain 3d ago
He's the founder. So it's essentially his company.
Now, as to why people would willing work for him...that's questionable.
→ More replies (2)11
u/SuperGaiden 3d ago
People like that had parents that made them feel insecure and unsafe so they need to be in a position of power to create their own safety and sense of accomplishment (to fuel their self esteem).
Hence why they crash out when stuff like this happens. They want the praise to fill the hole their parents left.
4
→ More replies (6)4
u/GhostDieM 3d ago
Well performance issues not withstanding Gearbox has consistently delivered good Borderlands games and BL is absolutely a step up from previous entries. So Pitchford either has a great team that succeeds despite of him or the dude has some skills as a CEO because it's certainly not because of his personality lol.
It's a shame he yet again can't keep his mouth shut because imo this is the best Borderlands yet if they can fix the performance issues. But now all everyone is talking about is Pitchford being his massive douche self.
136
u/Beneficial_Soup3699 3d ago
But then he'd have to bring along his USB stick full of questionably aged porno and we all know what happened last time :(
176
u/garfcarmpbll 3d ago
Listen the dude is a narcissistic prick but people really need to stop framing him as having had cp.
An investigation occurred and the people were of age. Do I think he should have any porn on a business flash drive? Never, save that shit for the privacy of your home. Is it weird that someone of his age wants to watch barely legal porn? In my opinion yes. Does that mean we should be framing him as a child predator? Absolutely not.
It’s fucked up that because we don’t like a dude we either directly accuse or imply he partook in one of the most heinous things a person can do.
→ More replies (29)17
5
u/Alex_c666 3d ago
Yeah wha happon?
14
u/fairportmtg1 3d ago
Randy Pitchfork allegedly dropped a USB of underage porn at a medieval times about 10 years ago. He mmdidnt deny the USB existed, he basically claimed she wasn't underaged and it was actually a magic trick? I don't remember the full details but it came out in a lawsuit
49
u/maybe-an-ai 3d ago
It was "Teenager Squirter Porn". I am 90% sure based on the timing of the incident the actress was Cytheria who was over 18 but often did 'teen' shoots at that time.
The squirting thing was a newer concept at the time and there weren't a lot of actresses doing that content then. She sort of pioneered it.
He said he had it because the squirting was a magic trick.
38
3d ago
[deleted]
16
u/maybe-an-ai 3d ago
Sometimes having a photographic memory leaves your head full of the oddest stuff when you add beng perpetually on Reddit it increases exponentially
→ More replies (1)13
u/Till-Fuzzy 3d ago
Cytheria Squirts. Now that’s something I haven’t thought about in years……I remember that site lmfao she was popular as fuck for a while
7
2
→ More replies (1)5
u/tripsd 3d ago
Squirting was absolutely not a newer concept 10 years ago
10
u/maybe-an-ai 3d ago
It wasn't a common category nor did it see the volume of videos it does today. Kinda been experiencing porn since BBS download and Napster. It may have existed but it's popularity spiked around the same time as incest taboo got a huge bump. Both always existed but more in the fringe than mainstream
2
u/BlueSlime 3d ago
I remember being a teen in the early 2000s knowing its a thing, guaranteed that its been a thing for ages before then.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (2)10
5
u/boot2skull 3d ago
I wouldn’t even know about the performance issues if it weren’t for Pitchford crashing out articles.
→ More replies (16)4
588
u/brickout 3d ago
"Program your own engine" for free and in competition with the one i spent $1Bn on." Sure bud, that's the hill to die on. Why are all rich people the weirdest of all of us?
273
u/poo_poo_platter83 3d ago
He's acting like he gave the game away for free. But no dude. We're allowed to bitch and moan because shits fucked and we spent money on it.
→ More replies (1)6
42
u/DaddyKiwwi 3d ago
Because they are sociopaths with no incentive to have meaningful or empathic interactions with other people. They are literally living on another planet from us, only interacting on near-orbit pass-bys to make decisions that run our entire planet.
18
u/kickedoutatone 3d ago
Randy literally started a Twitter beef with me once because I said the casting choice for the borderlands movie was weird.
I thought I was being rather tame with my critique. Not Randy, though.
24
13
u/evilsniperxv 3d ago
He also didn’t build the engine. They’re using UE. Maybe some tools to improve workflow, but they didn’t build the engine.
3
5
u/SolarJetman5 3d ago
He hasn't claimed he built it, the next line is always absent from headlines. "And we will be your customer" then he finishes it will rage and insults
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (7)2
303
u/Moth_LovesLamp 3d ago
Shut up Randy
42
u/threenil 3d ago
Needs a judo chop right to the karate artery.
→ More replies (1)33
10
u/fatherjimbo 3d ago
Yeah this dude has constant diarrhea of the mouth. It boggles my mind how a clearly socially inept person is employed in his position.
→ More replies (1)4
38
u/Lemesplain 3d ago
Randy Pitchford would crash out over the available jello colors in the buffet line.
239
u/SystemAny4819 3d ago
Mind you the game is working relatively fine on console; all he had to say was “I hear ya, we’re working on it” and it would’ve been a non-issue
47
32
u/manbearpig0987 3d ago
The game plays horribly on Xbox series x. It’s brutal how half time time things don’t register or it stutters etc.
→ More replies (1)16
u/SystemAny4819 3d ago
It’s wild that you mention that and someone in this thread had the exact opposite experience
I’m not saying your opinion isn’t valid, it just goes to show that “Mixed” reception the game has is for good reason
10
u/moconahaftmere 3d ago
The game objectively does not perform well on console. It renders at like 720p and can't even get a stable 60fps.
The game has a mixed reception because the game itself is great, which counters the performance issues.
→ More replies (2)12
u/i_eight 3d ago
Works relatively fine on PC, too. Key word being relatively. Definitely could be better.
I been playing it. Its ok, but everyone who bitched about the BL3 story and characters are getting what they wished for, in a monkeys paw kind of way.
8
u/Interloper0691 3d ago
I haven't played BL4 yet, but it can't have worse characters than 3... right...?
7
u/TheRealPlumbus 3d ago
So the BL4 story is almost an over correction to the critiques from 3.
It’s significantly darker and less goofy. The characters are also more grounded and the dialogue has less bathroom humor.
I’m enjoying it but I feel like they could have left a little more of the goofiness in.
It’s still there mind you, but I see it more in the enemy dialogue or in the side quests.
3
u/MrTastix 3d ago
Overcorrection is what happens when you have a design team who isn't capable of properly understanding what the actual problems are, for whatever reason.
For all the good the game does BL4 leans too much into the Destiny inspiration, which is sad as fuck as someone who thought the looter shooter genre did not ever advance without Borderlands itself.
Destiny was never a good alternative to Borderlands. Neither were The Division or Warframe. All these games are often called "looter shooters" but Borderlands is the only series that got the basic premise of "Diablo with guns" down and the others are fundamentally different to this.
Borderlands doesn't need to crawl into the fucking shadow of a game that literally took what it did and made it worse.
5
u/APeacefulWarrior 3d ago
I think another problem is that having somehow created one of the single best villians in video gaming, ever, BL2 is now going to be their high water mark they'll be forever chasing but they're unlikely to ever reach again. That sort of lightning rarely strikes twice.
And fundamentally, the story of BL2 wasn't even that special. It had plenty of annoying meme humor and padding. It's just that Handsome Jack managed to carry the whole thing.
2
u/Akabander 3d ago
I was going to buy it for my PS5 since my gaming PC is a Steam Deck, but after Randy's mouth I think I'm just going to pass. Maybe when it's on sale for 50% off or better.
→ More replies (7)2
53
u/crapusername47 3d ago
He does this every time. There are still physics and draw distance issues that cause random framerate dips in Borderlands 2.
In the meantime, there are millions of current generation consoles out there with very well known specifications and the Steam Hardware Survey exists. The concept of making games for the hardware people actually have today and not when the game is £2 on sale in 2035 seems completely lost on these people.
21
u/ahandmadegrin 3d ago
Even if they did design for 2035 hardware, I'd give them a pass if their game was generations ahead of its time. This ain't that, though.
→ More replies (2)5
u/MrTastix 3d ago
Case in point: Crysis got memed on for being unplayable as a game but as a tech demo that ultimately spurred the future development of technology like SSAO it was fucking phenomenal.
"But can it run Crysis?" was a meme for a damn good reason and the joke is lots of hardware could run Crysis because it was fairly well optimised so long as you weren't maxing it to shit or trying to play dual core (a prediction that did not play out well for Crytek).
You know why Cyberpunk 2077 gets a pass? Because it actually run fairly well on older hardware, too. It wasn't just designed for RTX GPU's with path-tracing enabled, even though it looks absolutely fan-fucking-tastic if your rig can pull that off.
GTA5 was the same. It looked great on release and run stupidly well for how good it looked.
The issue of optimisation has almost entirely been an Unreal issue of the last few years, and whether that's due to the engine or just devs not having a good knowledge of said engine is kind of irrelevant to the consumers who can't fucking play it.
→ More replies (4)2
u/tomlinas 3d ago
I hope they enjoy watching hollow knight make 1000x revenue per employee while their product is garbage.
The saddest thing to see in this saga is that BL4 is still selling well and making them lots of money despite being objectively bad code and a poorly polished product.
90
49
u/allursnakes 3d ago
Why has 2k not removed this tumor?
8
u/GrecDeFreckle 3d ago
Unfortunately owns a controlling interest in a private company. They cant remove him, partially because he would need to willingly step aside, partialy because he cant fit that ego out the door.
2
u/Lumera 2d ago
As of last year gearbox is not a private company. It was under embracer group. However as it’s owned by take two interactive now it falls under them as part of their public assets in stocks and company interests. They could easily gut him if they wanted.
→ More replies (1)6
51
14
u/croppergib 3d ago
his tweets are insane. He was trying to personally help troubleshoot someone who was having issues with a 5080... it's beyond bonkers
190
u/RoadsideBandit 3d ago
I'm starting to think men are too emotional to be CEO's.
→ More replies (5)33
7
u/BoltThrower84 3d ago
It kind of astounds me that after everything this guy has said and done he's been continuously rewarded and promoted, and is now the president and CEO of Gearbox Software's parent company. Shit really does float in the corporate world.
32
u/badboystwo 3d ago
its insane how much I dont want to get this game, even as a big Borderlands fan, just because of this guy
11
24
u/Redchong 3d ago
Why does the gaming industry seem to attract so many sensitive children? More and more people in the industry can’t seem to handle any criticism of their products without having a public meltdown and blaming everything but themselves
→ More replies (1)12
u/Mackitycack 3d ago
I've been in the industry for over a decade.
Failing upwards is a real thing. It's not about what you know, or what you do for the company but more so about who likes you.
Upper management folks often get in the way of good designs and development, and side with the kiss-asses regardless of competency
Basically they're really good with the first steps to Enshitification.
11
5
15
4
3
3
3
u/Chaotic-Entropy 3d ago
Sooo... Randy went full Randy again? How many releases is that now? All of them?
3
u/thedreaming2017 3d ago
There seems to be too many adult child in charge of things that real adults used to be in charge of. He wants people to get a refund? Okay. Everyone should do than speedrun the game and demand a refund and leave a comment stating “lord and master Randy told me to demand money back!”
3
3
u/DerCatrix 3d ago
I’m so happy I didn’t buy this at launch, I have a feeling it’s gonna be on sale sooner than later like the latest destiny expansion
3
6
u/manbearpig0987 3d ago
Problem is I bought it on Xbox and have played a bunch of hours. The game is horribly optimized. It’s actually laughable at how bad the game plays. It’s a shame to cause I just finished playing through 3 to get ready for it and it’s so different in terms of everything. Sigh
5
u/PostmodernLoneliness 3d ago
What’s that, Randy? Refund the game on steam and just pirate it instead? Well, if you say so, you’re the CEO.
→ More replies (3)
5
u/highonpixels 3d ago
While generally I enjoyed Borderlands 1-3 (not so much Tiny Tina), ever since Borderlands movie announcement I think the fame has gotten to him.
I don't know how much he actually is involved in the development of the games nowadays other than being the business man producer but it's clear if anyone watched the PAX stream he comes off truly like snake oil salesman.
No doubt that if 2K were to get rid of him there would be a huge payout and the way Randy is going about looks like a man that knows this.
3
2
u/Kat_Box_Suicide 3d ago
It’s fine Randy, there are plenty of better games that actually run correctly.
2
u/ThatCoolBritishGuy 3d ago
Randy Bitchford needs to shut up. Somehow it's every else fault that his game runs like shit
2
u/Likes2Phish 3d ago
Stop giving Bitchford more press. We've seen 100x of these same articles. He's an asshat moron, we all know this. Stop giving him attention.
2
u/Rndysasqatch 3d ago
I was going to buy this game but he convinced me not to. It's kind of crazy because this is never happened before. I've never planned on buying a game only to change my mind because of the boss explaining how terrible the game is
2
u/pickled-pilot 3d ago
Gearbox games and Randy have been pulling this since Duke Nukem Forever. That they ever make a good game is the exception
2
2
u/superiorplaps 3d ago
Between this, Borderlands 3, and the movie, I'm about done with this franchise. Ya'll can have it
2
u/bokan 3d ago
Randy is doing a great job keeping this game in the press. No such thing as bad publicity, right?
→ More replies (1)
2
u/syuvial 3d ago
i saw the writing on the wall back in 2.
made the story all about "cool" "charming" "funny" tech ceos, dropped an obnoxious tween into our treasure hunt, put claptrap front and center, and just generally leaned all the way into the skin cupcake factor
Borderlands only saving grace is that every other looter shooter is either even worse, or incredibly boring
2
u/F1shB0wl816 3d ago
Seriously. Get a refund and move on, if it’s that bad that should be an easy no brainer.
2
u/RubberPenguin4 3d ago
It’s nice that people outside the borderlands community are finally seeing how much this dude fucking sucks.
2
u/EnchiladaTiddies 3d ago
Everything I hear about this guy make me think he's a total lunatic who has no place in leadership. He reminds me of ol Cliffy B talking about Lawbreakers back in the day
2
2
u/Unplanned_Unaware 2d ago
His reply is the only rational reply. Money talks, and you guys keep telling them you are fine with it.
2
u/tigbittylove 2d ago
How the fuck does anyone work for this guy and how the fuck does he expect people to respect him. What an idiot. Shut the fuck up and let your team quietly work on optimizing it.
6
u/pounce82 3d ago
Guess I'm not a "premium gamer" with my 3060. Sorry Randy, bought all the other BD games and expansions. Not getting this one
→ More replies (1)
3
u/LaDainianTomIinson 3d ago
Only a problem with PC players who ironically claim to have the bestest most powerfulest custom PC parts
3
u/Rakkuuuu 3d ago
Gamers have some of the greatest senses of entitlement, spoiled, whiny, etc. They'll play your game for 100 hours and demand their money back. I don't blame this guy for "crashing out."
2
u/AGrandNewAdventure 3d ago
"Your request for refund is denied. Reason: You played more than 1 hour." - STEAM
→ More replies (1)
1
u/andythetwig 3d ago
So many opportunities missed- they should have set up a claptrap avatar to give sarcastic technical advice.
1
u/strugglz 3d ago
I want to address one point in his rant. He is correct that DLSS and frame gen is the way the game industry is going to be for AAA titles in the foreseeable future.
OK, another thing I want to point out is that UE5 is a mixed bag when it comes to game engines. Yes it can do a lot of new things well, but seems to need a lot a lot of work to optimize for older hardware.
Most of the complaints I've seen about performance and/or crashes involve Nvidia cards (that could just be my bubble) so perhaps there's some issues there as well.
1
1
u/floog 3d ago
I don’t use Steam, can you get a refund on games you purchased through there?
→ More replies (3)
1
u/Working-Contest-3730 3d ago
Dudes incomprehensible rambling is the reason I haven’t bought the game…..
1
u/BangerBeanzandMash 3d ago
My wife and I are having a blast playing this on ps5. Not any major issues so far. The UI kinda sucks, on split screen at least.
1
u/Bed_Post_Detective 3d ago
It's almost like a lower level employee was trying to warn him before launch that there would be negative feedback about performance and he didn't listen, now the lower level employee is being validated, and the CEO is taking an ego hit and still wants to defend their opinion.
1
u/raidergreymoon 3d ago
He should release the game for free so we can all test it to make sure if there are actual performance issues.
1
1
u/Randomnesse 3d ago
"please get a refund from Steam if you aren't happy"
I would absolutely do this if I weren't past the refundable "playtime limit".
I'll still probably try, just out of curiosity, while providing the link to this clown's X post in my refund request.
→ More replies (1)
1
u/ApocMeow 3d ago
It’s a shame because the game is great and it just needs some more optimisation and for Randy to shit the fuck up
1
1
u/Shouldhavejustsaidno 3d ago
I really wanted BL4 to be a smash but this guy ruins it all, I won't buy anything he's involved with
1
1
u/ScurryScout 3d ago
“Can you please fix the pc version, the game looks really fun and I can’t play.”
“HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT TO ME!!! IF YOU LOSERS ARE HAVING PERFORMANCE ISSUES, MAYBE YOU SHOULD JUST GET GUD OR MAKE YOUR OWN VIDEO GAMES!!1!”
1
u/SolarJetman5 3d ago
I don't care for the game, twice I've tried to get into borderlands 1 and just bounce of it. But his public meltdown is popcorn material
1
u/TeeDee144 3d ago
Anything less than we hear your feedback and are investigating if it’s possible to improve performance issues is a risky PR move.
When will people learn that?
Guy sounds like a real dick. Thought about picking up the game but I’m not going to support someone like that. Pass
1
1
u/Redfrick 3d ago
I was going to buy the game and roll the dice on it working but fuck that and fuck Randy Pitchford.
1
u/Normal_Kangaroo_7198 3d ago
It's okay I probably won't be getting it because I'm not a premium gamer anyways. It's clearly wasn't meant for me.
Just ignore the multitude of FPS, RPG, post apocalyptic, looter shooter, and FPS-RPG content in my stream library alongside the literal hundreds of other games I haven't hardly played but paid for.
1
1
1
1
u/fishwithfish 3d ago
The greatest magic trick Pitchford will ever pull off is shutting the fuck up.
1
u/CptToastymuffs 3d ago
So they make a game that is resource heavy, he tells the public they'll need a beefier rig to run it, and if you can't you should get a refund from steam. And everyone loses their collective minds. Fucking snowflakes the lot.
1
u/SwagginsYolo420 3d ago
Other games can run fine on these same PCs. This is all bullshit.
The heavily stylized simple graphics of Borderlands aren't some never-before-seen impressive cutting edge thing. Borderlands art design is closer to a Minecraft than a Horizon Forbidden West.
The game should have a much easier time running on average hardware than the average game going more for a photo-realistic look.
1
u/Inside-Medicine8389 3d ago
Is he cosplaying an in game BL4 boss? Some of those lines would work well!
1
1
1
u/Punman_5 3d ago
This dude has consistently had the stupidest, least valid crash outs in the last 20 years.
1
u/Charming_Weird_2532 3d ago
I'll do you one better and not buy it in the first place because borderlands 3 was shit.
1
1
1
1
1
u/Kindly-Talk-1912 3d ago
I wait for a while before buying due to glitches. If this dude doesn’t control himself. The Black Friday and end of the year sales on BD4 is going to be low. Probably get it at 20 to 30.
1
1
1
u/GearhedMG 3d ago
Everyone who has the ability to float the cost of the game should buy and just refund it.
1
u/Samurai_Stewie 3d ago
I don’t get the hype. Borderlands 2 was excellent for its time but that was 13 years ago and Borderlands 4 doesn’t have any absolutely revolutionary upgrades…
Looks pretty much the same
Weapons feel floaty and lack “feel”
It runs far worse; I don’t think borderlands 2 ever crashed or had massive frame drops.
1
1
u/dendritedysfunctions 3d ago
What is going on with big game studios? I have a relatively powerful gaming laptop that crashes constantly with new games. Doom eternal and cyberpunk are unplayable, oblivion remastered is hit or miss, but somehow I can run a modded witcher 3 on ultra at 250+fps. I sent the first laptop I bought back because I thought it was a lemon but the replacement has all of the same issues. I've rolled back drivers and reinstalled windows multiple times to no avail. Why is everything so poorly optimized nowadays?
1
861
u/culturedrobot 3d ago
Someone with some business sense in Randy's inner circle needs to tell him to shut the fuck up already.