Gearbox founder Randy Pitchford defends company's recent flops by comparing it to The Beatles

by Danny Craig  · 
Gearbox founder Randy Pitchford defends company's recent flops by comparing it to The Beatles
Gearbox

After a difficult few years, Randy Pitchford, founder of Borderlands developer Gearbox, has defended the company's recent flops by comparing them to the releases of legendary rock band The Beatles.

The details:

  • In response to a Risk of Rain fan (via Games Radar) who questioned the developer's "judgment and shot calling ability to do anything good," Pitchford stated that he would "keep making stuff" and compared the studio's "hit rate" to that of The Beatles. "I wish everything could be a hit, but that is not how it works,” Pitchford wrote. β€œThe greatest musical act of all time, The Beatles, had a 25% hit rate. I'm sure every song they recorded was done with love and commitment to the art and belief in the quality of their work. My favourite artists, performers, and entertainers have all made things I didn't like so much."

  • As expected, the reaction to this comparison has been far from positive, with users noting that all of The Beatles' UK and US singles and albums charted in the Top 40 and Billboard Hot 100, respectively. Others have accused Pitchford of intentionally refusing to acknowledge that the recent Borderlands movie and Risk of Rain 2's Seekers of the Storm DLC were critical failures.

  • Last month saw the release of the film adaptation of Borderlands, which was a critical and commercial flop, debuting at 0% on Rotten Tomatoes and failing to break $10 million at the North American box office in its first weekend. Pitchford responded to the negative reviews by focusing on the positives, writing, "So what you're saying is: You like what my friends and I do with our Borderlands video games even more than you like what some of the biggest and best cast and crew of film makers on the planet have done."

  • Risk of Rain 2 has also hit a rough patch with its latest DLC, which resulted in a number of game-breaking bugs such as wiping player progress on consoles, breaking core gameplay mechanics, and tying enemy attacks to frame rate. Although Gearbox has confirmed that it is addressing the issues with its first attempt at DLC, players have continued to criticize the developer since it acquired the game from its original studio, Hopoo Games, back in 2022.

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