Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford reveals Borderlands was predicted to fail: 'They said Take-Two is just sending it to die'

During our hectic week at Gamescom 2025, I had a chance to sit down with Mr Borderlands himself – a title he attributes to many others alongside him – for a chat about this new era for the series.

"I've been working on Borderlands with this team for over 20 years now – starting to get pretty good at it," he smiles.

On what Borderlands as a series means for him, Randy delineates with straightforward precision.

"Borderlands is a place between things that don't belong. A borderland is between two other things, right? So, role-playing game and shooter – it's both, it's neither, it's the muddy spot between the two. It's the place between comedy and drama, or between realism and surrealism."

He continues: "Even the characters live in a borderland between who they are and who they wish they are. And I love that, because I think that's like me, and I think that's like a lot of us.

"I think that being in that borderland between things that don't belong is kind of where I want to be, and where a lot of people want to be, and I think that's one of the reasons why Borderlands is so successful."

For many, Borderlands 4 is set to be a new era for the series. I ask if Randy feels the same, and he has conflicting thoughts.

"We almost wrapped that trilogy, and are kind of starting with a new set with Borderlands 4," he begins. "But the truth is, if you do know the story and the characters, you'll find that connective tissue, and you're going to feel very comfortable. We've pushed a lot of boundaries, and we've innovated quite a lot with Borderlands 4, but we haven't done so in a way where it's an entirely different game.

"If you love Borderlands, you will absolutely love Borderlands 4. But if you've never played a Borderlands game before and are curious, this is the one to jump in with."

While the series has continued to prove popular – Randy notes that BL3 is the most commercially successful game in the series – more recent entries have drawn heavier criticism, something which Randy doesn't seem worried about.

"Every game has received criticism, and everyone has different memories of what things are," he explains. "You can look at critical reviews, and you can see that different games have different scores, and they go up and down."

"I think that Borderlands 2 might have been one of the greatest games ever made. I think that's a high watermark. It's going to be hard to beat that.

"Borderlands 3 is our most successful game, if you look at the commercial response, and if you look at the hours people play, so I don't know what measuring stick we want to look at here."

Having briefly touched on the topic of social media, I take the opportunity to ask him about his own social media use. One of the industry's most prominent public figures, Randy is a man whose X (formerly Twitter) account has got him into trouble more than once.

"I'm a human like everybody else," he laughs. "I go to the bathroom, and when I'm sitting on the toilet I like to use my phone and get on social media, because what else are you gonna do?

"I started a Twitter account when they first opened, and I still mess with it, and it's kind of neat because it's a really cool platform where anybody can interact with me, and I can interact with anybody, and that's not possible elsewhere.

"I've never been afraid of that. I've kind of thought, 'OK, I'll be accessible', but it does come with consequences. You know, sometimes, I might reply to somebody and think I'm helping them out, and then some 10 other people figure they can make a story out of that and get clicks.

"One of the most frustrating things imaginable is when I know what I'm standing for in one case, but then somebody purposely or wilfully misconstrues that and tries to suggest that that's different."

As we are at Gamescom, Randy goes on to regale me with a tale of his own first Gamescom where he showed off the very first Borderlands, and where he learned that it was apparently doomed to fail.

"Everybody predicted it was going to fail," he recalls. "I watched Opening Night Live with Geoff Keighley yesterday, and he had a regular guest who was an analyst, and they were talking about Borderlands before the first game came out, and absolutely predicted it was doomed.

"I think the words were that 'Take-Two is just sending it to die', because it was so certain it was going to be a failure.

"And you know what? It probably could have been, because it's really weird. Like, who is it for? We're just artists and designers doing stuff we think is cool, and for some reason that one works, you know? And it worked because of what it was, and also because of what it wasn't."

Breaking away from the world of gaming somewhat, I remind Randy that we have just passed the one-year anniversary of the Borderlands movie, a piece of media that Randy is effusive about.

"Other people love [Borderlands], and some of them are artists too, and they want to do stuff. And I could take the attitude of just being a gatekeeper, like, 'No, nobody can touch it', or I could say, 'You know what, you've got an idea, and you have the ability to execute, and you're pretty good, like, you've done a lot of cool stuff. You know what? Yeah, I'll let you do that. Have fun. Go for it, because what's the worst that can happen?'

"I make video games, but I don't make movies. But Eli Roth's really good at making movies, and Lionsgate's really good at distributing them. And in Cate Blanchett and Jack Black and Kevin Hart and Jamie Lee Curtis – legends – I'm not gonna say no, I'm gonna say yes and let it happen.

"And what's the worst that can happen? Maybe we saw the worst that can happen. And OK, some people like it, some people don't, and it seemed to work. Our video games sold a lot more units when the movie was out. So I guess if I'm just a capitalist, I should let even more of that happen.

"But I had a blast, you know? I'm not a filmmaker. If I directed that movie it'd be way worse. I promise you. It'd be terrible, it'd be so bad if I directed it, but I'm glad it exists, and I got to experience helping those guys out and just making sure they had access to anything they needed.

"And I got to walk the red carpet at the Chinese Theater with Jamie Lee Curtis. Who gets to do that? If you – please promise me – if you ever find yourself in a spot where you've made something and it's big, and Jamie Lee Curtis is gonna play a character, you say yes."

I promise, Randy.

For the full interview, check out the video above or head to the Radio Times Gaming YouTube channel.

Borderlands 4 releases on 12th September 2025 for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.

Check out more of our Gaming coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.