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NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 21 May 2025 00:15:19 +0000
From: Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com>
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action
Subject: Oh, Randy (Borderlands 4 edition)
Date: Tue, 20 May 2025 20:15:20 -0400
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I've said it before, but I grudgingly agree that video games probably
should be priced more.* The $60USD 'standard price' for AAA games is
historically low if you take inflation into account, even as the games
themselves are becoming ever more larger and more complex.**

But at the same time, the public at large is --especially now--
extremely sensitive to price hikes, and video games are unnecessary
luxuries that many think they can cut back on purchasing. So this
trend of jacking up the price to $80USD isn't going down well at all
with most customers.

So when Gearbox recently announced that the soon-to-be-released
"Borderlands 4" was going to ship at the higher price point, there was
a wee bit of pushback. Fortunately, wiser heads at Gearbox prevailed,
and they spun a clever marketing campaign convincing potential
customers why this increase was well worth it, given all the new
benefits gamers would get from the new game, and all was well in the
world.

No, hahaha, of course none of that happened. Instead a "I'm the
smartest boy in the room" CEO --good old 'I don't know why I have
Lolita pix on that thumb drive I carry' around Randy Pitchford--
opened his mouth and made everything worse again. Said he regarding
players unhappy with having to pay the higher price: "If you're a real
fan, you'll find a way to make it happen."***

Oh, Randy... no. No, no, no. What the hell is wrong with you?

Aside from the arrogance of somebody with too much money not
understanding why people might object to the price hike, he's also, I
think, over-estimating the appeal of the "Borderlands" brand. Because,
let's face it, while a lot of people loved the original two games, the
franchise hasn't been doing that well and --especially after that
disastrous movie-- its done little to bring people back into the fold.
Now is not the time to drive people away; you need to give them
reasons to want to come back. Being an out-of-touch too-rich
douche-bag is not a winning strategy. 

Well, I'm sure he doesn't care. Even if Borderlands 4 fails --even if
Gearbox itself folds-- I'm sure he's well protected by a golden
parachute. Actually doing his job of keeping the company healthy and
customers happy is hardly a requirement for CEOs anymore, anyway.

I wasn't going to get "Borderlands 4"... certainly not at the $80
price point, and unlikely at anything lower. The franchise has left me
increasingly cold over the years; I found its gunplay pretty average,
and the entire looter-shooter mechanic (ten billion guns and none of
them good!) tedious. The setting, while somewhat intriguing at the
start, is now a barely-funny joke run into the ground through
repetition. And they're bringing Claptrap back, despite everybody
hating him. Yeah, there's nothing I want in "Borderlands 4" to start
with.

But there's even less of a chance I'm interested now.

Good job, Randy.









* unless you are double-dipping with MTX, excessive DLC, live-service
nonsense. Then you can afford to keep your base price low
** but an equally important question that never seems to be asked is:
do games NEED to be that large?
*** an excessively long URL to the article
https://www.ign.com/articles/as-gamers-express-concern-about-borderlands-4-potentially-costing-80-gearbox-chief-randy-pitchford-says-if-youre-a-real-fan-youll-find-a-way-to-make-it-happen