It’s been made clear by now that Borderlands 3 will indeed have microtransactions – the cosmetic kind at the very least – following confusing messaging by developers Gearbox Software about the same during the recent gameplay event. But Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford is adamant that the messaging wasn’t really confusing at all, and that he’d been clear right from the get go that though the game will have cosmetic in-game purchases, there won’t be any pay-to-win microtransactions.
For context, here is what Pitchford said on stage during the event: “I’m sure we’re going to do all kinds of fun customizations like heads and skins, but we’re not doing any of that free-to-play junk. There’s not going to be any microtransactions, there’s not going to be any of that nonsense.”
In a lengthy statement on Twitter, however, Pitchford says that in context of the situation, as well as the context of what Gearbox’s practices with Borderlands have been in the past, the meaning of his statements during the reveal event should have been abundantly clear.
Pitchford brought up the game’s support of offline play and splitscreen co-op, and how it wouldn’t be catering to the games-as-a-service model, as he argued that the crux of his statements was that the game wouldn’t be supporting free-to-play monetization, just as the series never has in the past as well.
At this point though, one has to wonder what the point of all this is- there was unclear messaging to begin with, and the messaging was subsequently made clear. Since we now know that Borderlands 3 will have microtransactions, what’s the point of arguing that no one ever suggested that it wouldn’t- even though inferring that from “there’s not going to be any microtransactions” isn’t exactly a leap?
Borderlands 3 is out on September 13 for the PS4, Xbox One, and PC- on that front there is no confusion.
/6 While on-stage I affirmed my commitment that Borderlands 3 was designed to be what a Borderlands game is supposed to be. I talked about story, style and design.
— Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) May 2, 2019
/7 I talked about our commitment to, for example, continued support of local split screen coop and off-line play – this in a world where shooter looters are forcing on-line only game-as-service models only.
— Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) May 2, 2019
/8 I made a commitment that Borderlands 3 would be supported after launch with big, fun, valuable campaign DLC and character modifications. I made a commitment to this feeling right-at-home to players of previous Borderlands games.
— Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) May 2, 2019
/9 Our post launch plans are in flux as we are finishing the main game, but we have committed to a robust season pass that I am confident will be measurable later as an even better value proposition than Borderlands 2, which is the reigning gold standard for season pass value.
— Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) May 2, 2019
/10 Our post-launch plans are in flux, but I made a commitment that Borderlands 3 would not pursue F2P style monetization.
— Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) May 2, 2019
This is incorrect. Please respect the context of the ten sentences prior to the sentence you reference along with the history of the Borderlands franchise on this point. The sum of that context is wholly exonerating of any claims of willful misinformation.
— Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) May 3, 2019
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