Gearbox co-founder says he saw Randy shove claptrap VA.
51 replies, posted
Tbh it’s a solid game when you remove the typo in the code
but the cockbags still haven’t pushed a patch to do it automatically lol
It's not a good look for the company when you see Randy's name in the title of an article and you go, "Christ, what did he do this time?" Randy is obviously not cut out to be a leader of anything. Dude has such a track record of being a scumbag.
Wasn't the actual changes by the typo largely overblown and it really didn't effect the game as much as everyone was led to believe?
Pretty sure it changes the AI of the xeno drones which is what we were shitting on mostly. Definitely had more fun playing it last night after finally trying it than I ever did playing normal back in the day
The funding fiasco is borderline criminal though.
The worst part is that Bitchford will never willingly give up his position within the company no matter how much pressure comes at him from any (or all) side(s). He is effectively a giant douche roadblock, as I doubt a megalomaniac like him is going to change his ways nor step down.
Those text messages he sent are proof of him being a completely manipulative asshole. Asking people where their "loyalties" lie already sounds cult-like, to me anyways. Testing people on unconditional loyalty seems more like a doctrine than a friendship.
Nothing can excuse this guy's actions, and from the outside it honestly just looks like he's throwing a fucking tantrum because things aren't going his way.
as much as working for an industrial conglomerate sucks, at least I don't have to put up with bullshit premadonas and sweatshop work conditions, I've wanted to go back to school for programming and I know the manufacturers looking for programmers aren't this up their ass.
Go on.
Can't 2K/Take2 ask him to step down or hire a PR person to handle this?
and honestly I want to know why the heck Gearbox's employees aren't boycotting him
So I did a bit of digging to try and track down possible cofounders (mostly because I'm bored at work). Gearbox was formed by five former Rebel Boat Rocker devs.
Randy Pitchford
Brian Martel
Stephen Bahl
Landon Montgomery
Rob Heironimus
We can cross Randy off right away because he's obviously still with Gearbox. Stephen Bahl's linkedin still lists him as the CFO for Gearbox so it's a safe bet he's still with the company. Landon Montgomery left the studio at some point and has since formed Egg Games. The last credit I can find for Brian Martel was for work done on Battleborne in which he's listed as a special thanks, so he's likely left the studio. The only information I can find for Rob Heironimus is that he worked on the Half Life games, but not much beyond that, so my guess is he has also left the company
That's not how companies work.
Randy didn't realise that Handsome Jack isn't supposed to be a role model
From what I recall, Handsome Jack is based on Pitchford.
Also don't forget that Borderlands actually doesn't have much of an original bone in its body art style wise.
They basically copied the work of the guys behind CodeHunters, and while they initially planned to work with them, plans fell through, and Gearbox just chugged along with the new art style. They didn't credit their work or get their consent.
https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/207991/7c2cb9ed-6795-454e-b51a-849d2e18b73d/image.png
So Gearbox, under Randy Pitchford's leadership, obtained fuckloads of money from SEGA and FOX for Colonial Marines that was siphoned into the creation of Borderlands (a game who's art style isn't fully original), and then didn't even really work on Colonial Marines themselves, outsourcing most, if not all, of it to Timegate Studios.
So yeah, combine this all with how Randy acts as CEO, and it's a wonder he's still in the big seat at Gearbox.
The talent and skill of the devs at Gearbox is quite high, it's just a shamed it's shackled to such a terrible figure.
It has been mentioned elsewhere, but it shouldn't be a surprise because he literally owns it. As in, there appears to be no one else, aside from maybe the CFO who was another co-founder, that has a stake in it. He doesn't answer to a board or shareholders, he is Gearbox.
To be honest, I always thought the "plagiarism" label is too sensationalist for the situation. The artstyle is not that unique. It's cell-shaded 3D models with hand painted textures, a trivial attempt at translating the visual style of comic books into 3D. Other than the technical aspect of it's presentation, the short in question seem to be obviously aping the work of The Gorillazz's and Tank Girl's artist Jamie Hewlett and nobody accuses Ben Hibon of plagiarism. And guess what? The Walking Dead and other Telltale Games did exactly the same presentation of cell-shaded models and hand-painted textures in their games and I never heard them mentioned in the same breath once.
Did Gearbox ape that short off? Undoubtedly. But the situation only looks bad only because they contacted Ben Hibon and then dropped him. Which, of course, goes to show that Randy's main problem is his impulsivity.
huh
https://youtu.be/BlZv9fEY_co
This really hurts in retrospective. Knowing gearbox angle and all that. Know my mind is playin tricks on me.
it's almost like under capitalism being a huge bastard is actually good for business
let's hope it falls apart this time and he's out on his ass
Examples were provided for when Gearbox used promotional materials such as screenshots that were practically one-to-one with stills from 'Codehunters' itself, with many parallels between the short film's visuals assets & Borderlands' initial start (This Gather Your Party interview with Ben Hibon was where such examples were produced: http://web.archive.org/web/20170608131718/http://www.gatheryourparty.com/2012/11/12/pound-of-flesh/, which a less obscure Forbes article used as a source).
While I certainly can't reckon that a good case for plagiarism can be made, the similarities still strike as more uncomfortable than flattering, particularly when accounting for the situation of contact as described by Ben Hibon and that his name (Not even under Special Thanks) nor any direct reference to Codehunters can be spotted anywhere in Borderlands.
The most I'm aware of Randy Pitchford speaking on the matter was what he either told Kotaku or was quoted as saying by Kotaku (Cited in the Gather your Party interview), and speaking personally, it's not very informative nor compelling.
But what would they credit him for? For getting there first with cell-shaded look and hand painted textures? It would be as if Duke Nukem 3D credited id software for coming up with the genre. Or if Blizzard credited Westwood for coming up with RTS. Like I've said, the style is a ubiquitous way to translate comic book look into 3D, the old XIII game used it, Telltale games used it, Darkness games used it and many more now. The situation is only as bad because Gearbox blatantly stole the artstyle, in the rush while the short was hot. Their game was set in the desert, so it looked extremely similar, they knew it looked bad, they contacted the creators and then dropped them, which made them look even worse. It's purely a PR problem caused by impulsive decisions but they ultimately paid off for Borderlands.
Yeah, Borderlands 1 originally had a more hardcore Space Western/Great Exodus style plot and theme to it, which is why there's lots of weird cowboy elements that are completely incongruous with the LOLZORZ mODERN, DUBSTEP WOO LAYZUR BEEMZ EPIC LULZORZ theme that almost everything made for the IP since BL1's vanilla game has gone for. This is also why areas like Lynchwood are startlingly out of place in BL2, because despite all its pretentious attempts to make a mature tone, the fascist-frontier regime of Nisha is an actual caricature of the Old West style that BL1 hints at several times.
I could probably write a full dissertation on how Borderlands 1 and 2 (but more specifically 2) basically attempt basic Western themes but without actually understanding them or putting them into proper practice.
Also note that "Commandant Steele" is with the other Vault Hunters there. That's because that was Lilith's original design before they decided to go with the emo redhead design they later came up with. IMO Steele's design is way more interesting and she's straight up fucking wasted in the final game. As always, Gearbox took on an idea and came up with a property that had a shitload of promise, and pissed it away because shiny things caught their eye-- and I'd go so far as to say it's probably Pitchford's fault.
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