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Gearbox’s devs are certainly more accommodating and interesting than Randy Pitchford’s now infamous tweets would make you think.
This all started with EpicNNG tweeting about the latest Borderlands 4 patch. He said this:
Thoughts on Amon buffs today:
Solid changes overall, but there is way too many changes that either don’t make sense, or do not change anything. I would love to see Gearbox explain these changes in their notes.
A lot of “explain your work” moments reading through them today.
This evoked a response from Gearbox lead character designer Nicholas Thurston. Thurston said this:
Balance is an ongoing thing. We have quite a few more things coming soon(tm). This is a first step, not a complete fix.
Balance Is An Ongoing Thing
Thurston didn’t address all of EpicNNG’s questions here. Of course, he may know some things about it but he works in a different division.
So he may not have been the best person to make these explanations. It may also not be fair to the people who made those decisions if he tried.
But I think his response does show us what Gearbox’s corporate culture is from the inside. We know the stereotype is that companies are run by the wealthy from above, overworking the employees from below.
But a company does form its own culture outside of that stereotype. Even if an employee has no sentimentality for their workplace, they could tell you if that workplace is toxic, easygoing, industrious, etc.
And Gearbox’s culture seems to be very customer oriented. They seem very eager to please. They do proactively reach out with their fans.
And they’re not the only developers who like to touch base with their own fans/customers. But we hope this helps form a picture of Gearbox that we can separate from Randy Pitchford’s outsized presence and visibility.
Gearbox’s Relationship With Their Fans (Sans Randy Pitchford)
EpicNNG made this response to Thurston:
Overall I’m happy with what we have seen today, though I would really love if it would at all be possible to get some explanation on some changes in the notes.
Obviously not for all 62 changes for example lol, but I would like maybe a TLDR for the intent of each tree’s changes.
EpicNNG also reaches out a lot to Gearbox’s creative director Graeme Timmins. So Borderlands fans have known they can talk to Gearbox for some time already.
We’re sure EpicNNG will get that explanation for Amon’s changes soon, save for the unlikely scenario that there’s confidential information behind it.