A Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition upgrade offer is "not possible," Gearbox boss says

News
By published

Randy Pitchford says the Bulletstorm remaster and THQ Nordic's Darksiders freebie are very different things.

Bulletstorm, developed by Epic and People Can Fly, and published by Electronic Arts, was originally released in 2011. Despite being a very decent (and pleasingly ridiculous) shooter, it wasn't exactly a runaway hit, and so there was never any sort of follow-up—until last week, that is, when Gearbox announced the Full Clip Edition at The Game Awards. It's not a sequel, unfortunately, but a remaster of the original, which led some people to wonder if owners of the original would get it as a free, or heavily discounted, upgrade. 

Alas, the short answer is "no." Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford took to Twitter shortly after the announcement to explain that it's "not possible" to offer the remade game as an upgrade. "Completely different publisher, era, platform (they were Games for Windows only), product/sku, etc." he wrote. He also addressed an unflattering comparison with the recently-released Darksiders Warmastered Edition, a new version of the game that was given freely to owners of the original release. 

"Someone else's game being a rebuilt/remastered/enhanced game over something previously offered by a different publisher," he continued. "Nordic bought entire rights past-future from a defunct publisher. This is a very different situation."

Clearly not everyone is happy about it, especially in light of the precedent set by Darksiders Warmastered or BioShock: The Collection, which was offered to owners of the originals as a straight-up freebie. And personally, I think 50 bucks is pretty steep for a re-release of a five-year-old game. But it's also awfully presumptive to expect studios to remake games and then give them away for nothing (or next to it), especially without knowing the full circumstances behind the decision. Presumably 2K can afford to take a victory lap with a BioShock re-release; People Can Fly may not have that luxury.

It's possible that minds will change between now and the launch day, which is more than four months away, but I wouldn't hold my breath.  

Andy Chalk
Andy Chalk
US News Lead

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.