Randy Pitchford Talks Upcoming Vault Hunter and How Fans View Past Ones

It’s been a busy few weeks for Randy Pitchford and the team over at Gearbox Software. They’ve been hard at work with the launch of Borderlands 4, and then, trying to fix the game after the launch wasn’t as smooth as they hoped it would be. While the game did get plenty of praise from critics before the launch, and plenty of fans still think the game is good overall, the bugs and optimization issues have been weighing it down. However, that hasn’t stopped the team from “pounding the pavement” and talking as much as possible about the game, including what’s coming soon and in the future for it.

As we noted yesterday, the game will get a new Vault Hunter in the form of C4SH, a “robo dealer” who is wired much differently than other bots in the world. At the Tokyo Game Show, Gamer Braves talked with Randy Pitchford, who had plenty to say about the new Vault Hunter:

“The brain of this robot is programmed to think about probabilities and chance. That’s a deep part of the gameplay. Some outcomes of C4SH’s skills are randomized, like the roll of dice or the flip of a card. Sometimes you’ll hit big and feel incredibly powerful, other times you’ll whiff — but that’s the fun of it. By adding a new character, it’s almost like you get an entirely new Borderlands 4 to play over again. Replayability is what makes Borderlands work, and C4SH adds another angle to that.”

That does indeed sound like something unique compared to the other Vault Hunters in the game. No matter who you like, or don’t like, there is something new coming, and it might not be the only change in the works.

As for what is happening with the current Vault Hunters, Randy admitted that Vex was the popular one in the early stages of launch, but that Rafa got a community movement behind him, and that more people are picking him now. Either way, players are embracing the new group:

“Preferences shift as players spend more time in the game. What starts as an identity-driven choice often evolves into a gameplay-driven one. Each Vault Hunter plays so differently, it’s like a whole new game each time.”

The team at Gearbox Software did adjust things in the endgame content to try to ensure that things did “feel fresh” when you picked a new Vault Hunter to play. Only time will tell how many stick around when C4SH decides to “cash in.”