In this “internet age” that we exist in, there is a “freedom” that is inherent to using certain sites that is both easy to use…and easy to abuse. We’re naturally talking about the ability to hop onto social media and “talk about whatever you want,” and most times…that’s a good thing. You can share pictures, post your feelings, ask for support, or make a note of something that you feel is “off” or wrong. It’s all part of the “freedom” social media sites offer, but, again, it’s easy to abuse, and Randy Pitchford of Gearbox Software seems to have lost the “don’t be a jerk online” memo.
For the last week, since the launch of Borderlands 4, Randy Pitchford has been VERY vocal online. Now, if it were just to “plug his team’s newest game,” or to “answer fan questions,” that would be one thing, as many developers do that during a game’s launch week. However, as we’ve covered, Randy has been vocal in the “I’m going to blast you for critiquing my game” kind of way. He’s done all sorts of “attack posts,” from saying that players should simply “make their own engine and sell it to Gearbox” to just “get a refund if they don’t like the game,” and even went so far as to say that a very LOW amount of complaints were actually legitimate.
Sadly, it went even further yesterday, when Randy made a note on Twitter to a gamer about “turning off the game’s fog,” which a fellow gamer pointed out you couldn’t actually do in the game. Naturally, Randy saw this and replied…in a not-so-subtle way:
“Oops. You are correct: the bottom setting for fog is “low” not “off”. The mistake was innocent and there’s a story behind it, but I think it is more fun for you to skewer me over it.”
…yeah, that wasn’t the best thing to say, because gamers haven’t been “skewering” Pitchford for no reason. Instead, they’ve been calling out the optimization of his latest title on both console and PC. At first, it was just PC gamers feeling the wrath of bad optimization, then it was found out that on consoles, if you keep playing the game, the title somehow gets worse, and the Gearbox Software “solution” was to start from scratch!
Many online are straight-up begging Randy Pitchford to stop talking, as he keeps putting his foot in his mouth, and it’s rather embarrassing. Will he actually do that? Only he knows…
