Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford spiels about how wonderful Borderlands 4 is going to be, then gets all coy about the price but jokes 'maybe we'll sell you that minimap that you guys want'

A mechanical hand holds the Borderlands mask. — (Image credit: Gearbox)

Gearbox Software co-founder and CEO Randy Pitchford is going full PT Barnum for the release of Borderlands 4, bullishly telling everyone that this is going to be the best Borderlands since sliced bread, and wading into online fights to tell the doubters to "play the game first." Heck he even pulled a Todd Howard: "you see something anywhere on the screen, a mile away, up in the sky, you will be able to get there."

Speaking at PAX East (thanks, GR+), Pitchford now says the development team is "on offense" and, apparently, this is the game he needs in his life right now.

Pitchford also touched on price, specifically in relation to Nintendo setting the new Mario Kart World at an eye-watering $80.

"It's an interesting time," says Pitchford. "On one level, we've got a competitive marketplace where the people that make those choices want to sell as many units as possible and they want to be careful about people that are price-sensitive.

"There are some folks who don't want to see prices go up, even the ones deciding what the prices are. There's other folks accepting the reality that game budgets are increasing, and there's tariffs for the retail packaging. It's getting gnarly out there, you guys. Borderlands 4 has more than twice the development budget for Borderlands 3. More than twice. So the truth is, I don't know what the price is going to be."

That sounds… potentially expensive. Pitchford spiels a little more about how more revenue means bigger and better games in future, but at the same time "we want everyone who buys and plays a Gearbox game to feel certain that they got the better end of the bargain."

Pitchford says the game's price will be set "soon," and it "might be the new price that Nintendo and Microsoft have led with" or "it might be that we stay back."

Finally, it's always good to end with a gag: this one taking aim at the people lamenting the absence of a minimap in the game's HUD.

"If it is cheaper, maybe we'll sell you that minimap that you guys want that we'll develop later," smiled Pitchford. "How bad do you want that? $10? I don't know. I'm just kidding."

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Rich is a games journalist with 15 years' experience, beginning his career on Edge magazine before working for a wide range of outlets, including Ars Technica, Eurogamer, GamesRadar+, Gamespot, the Guardian, IGN, the New Statesman, Polygon, and Vice. He was the editor of Kotaku UK, the UK arm of Kotaku, for three years before joining PC Gamer. He is the author of a Brief History of Video Games, a full history of the medium, which the Midwest Book Review described as "[a] must-read for serious minded game historians and curious video game connoisseurs alike."

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