Gearbox boss on $80 Borderlands 4: 'If you're a real fan you'll find a way to make it happen'

Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford's comments on $80 game pricing has incensed some gamers who are critical of the new software MSRP.

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Thanks to Nintendo's efforts with the Switch 2, video games now cost $80. Not all video games though--just a select few like Mario Kart World. But Pandora's box has been opened, and while companies are deciding to price their games on a case-by-case basis, the $80 tier has been established for mainline flagship games, at least on the Switch 2. And for games with simultaneous multi-platform launches, companies can now elevate pricing to $80 on other platforms to make things even. So which games will cost $80? Will GTA 6? Maybe. What about Borderlands 4, which is also getting a Switch 2 port?

One fan brought up the possibility of Borderlands 4 costing $80 to Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford in a May 13 Tweet, and Pitchford's response has agitated some gamers.

"A) Not my call. B) If you're a real fan, you'll find a way to make it happen," Pitchford said in his response.

"My local game store had Starflight for Sega Genesis for $80 in 1991 when I was just out of high school working minimum wage at an ice cream parlor in Pismo Beach and I found a way to make it happen."

The first part is interesting because it's apparently true.

Pitchford is CEO of Gearbox, and Gearbox is owned by Take-Two Interactive who bought Gearbox in early 2024 for $460 million.

But 2K Games is the publisher of the Borderlands series, and namely the publisher of Borderlands 4.

As we know from recent comments from Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick, video game prices are set by the labels themselves. In this case, 2K Games would be the label that sets the price for Borderlands 4, and not Gearbox.

This of course also means that Rockstar Games will be the ones who set the price for Grand Theft Auto VI.