Revenge isn’t something we often get to talk about in the gaming space. After all, revenge is all about “getting back at those who wronged you,” and that can be hard to do when most people can’t “affect” those who have wronged them. For example, gamers can’t get back at publishers for making bad games outside of writing bad reviews, which isn’t much of a “revenge plot.” Devs can “strike back” at certain leaders who hinder them by striking out and making their own teams, but that’s a huge risk. Then, there’s Borderlands 4, made by Gearbox Software, which decided to use their game to shoot a couple of “shots across the bow” at the publisher that wronged them a while back.
If you don’t know, Gearbox Software is owned by Take-Two Interactive. However, for a time, they were owned by The Embracer Group. You know, the most infamous publisher out there due to the huge mistake they made that cost thousands upon thousands of people their jobs? Yeah, that group. They are the worst because they only saw the game industry as a “way to make money,” and when they lost their money, everyone else paid the price for it, including Gearbox in certain ways.
Thankfully, they were sold to Take-Two, and Borderlands 4 was made without terrible oversight this time around. But, the team didn’t forget their “previous overlords” and decided to make an area in the game called “Embracer’s Bluff.”
As noted by Kotaku, this place…is a literal trash heap. Oh, but it gets better. Of the two quests you can get there, which is likely small by design, one involves an “evil AI toilet.” That’s likely a reference to how The Embracer Group is fine with using AI to make video games instead of actual talented people. Yeah, that’s an idea you can flush down the drain.
The other one involves a vending machine. Pretty harmless, right? Except, the machine will KILL anyone who buys from it. That’s likely a reference to all the studios and games that The Embracer Group killed after they had to recoup all the money they lost when their spending spree backfired massively.
Finally, the place is run by a “King Mayor,” who is…let’s just say “lazy and self-indulgent” and leave it at that. The head of The Embracer Group is honestly a monster who mocked the layoffs he caused, so this fits him pretty nicely.
So, yeah, well done, Gearbox Software! We salute you!
