Borderlands 3 - Drama Over Claptrap's Voice
Claptrap will be the next character (after Rhys, originally played by Troy Baker) to get a new voice in Borderlands 3. David Eddings confirmed that he will not play the famous robot this time. Gearbox Software, which "couldn't afford it", is to blame for that. The head of the company, Randy Pitchford, responded to the accusations.
After the enthusiastically received announcement of Borderlands 3, further information on the expected continuation of the the Borderlands series began to appear. It is only a pity that some of the reports have caused a lot of controversy. This is the case with David Eddings, known to fans of the cycle as Claptrap's voice. He confirmed on Twitter that this time he will not play the famous robot. According to him, it was the first time he demanded a payment from Gearbox Software for his performance - he had not received any remuneration for his role before. But it turned out that the company "couldn't afford it". Eddings stated in the entry that "maybe next time they should put the $12M payment from 2K in the Gearbox bank account", referring to a famous scandal from the beginning of the year when Randy Pitchford was accused of appropriating exactly the same amount of money that 2K Games had given to the developer as a bonus. If we add to this a later entry in which Eddings calls for not criticizing the entire studio "for the actions of one man", we can conclude that the former Gearbox Software employee blames the entire situation first and foremost on the CEO.
Apart from the fans' regret for not involving the actor in the project, the information about alleged lack of money may have been a cause for concern. It is not surprising, then, that Randy Pitchford himself spoke shortly afterwards. The CEO of Gearbox Software said that the studio came to Eddings with a "very generous proposition", which he later specified as "twice union rate". However, Eddings allegedly rejected this offer, and in 2017 he left the team for Rooster Teeth. Later, Gearbox was to repeat its proposal, but this time a standard salary was offered and no agreement was reached either (via IGN). According to Pitchford, Eddings is "bitter and disgruntled" after leaving the studio and that's where his last entries came from.
This is not the first report about the replacement of one of the existing voice actors from the Borderlands series. A month ago we found out that Troy Baker will not reprise his role as Rhys - one of the main characters in the Tales of the Borderlands adventure game series, who will return in the third installment. Again, Randy Pitchford argued that the actor had not taken on the role, whereas Baker himself made it clear that he would not hesitate to speak again as the voice of the Hyperion corporate employee. In the case of such contradictory statements, one might wonder whether the case might have been sunk by miscommunication between the two parties. However, some people don't believe the Gearbox CEO after his many controversial comments and the aforementioned $12 million affair.
What about Claptrap? The voice of the charming(ly annoying) robot will be provided by Jim Foronda, for whom this will not be the first experience with the Borderlands series (earlier he played Dahl and Brother Sophis). Troy Baker as Rhys will be replaced by Raye Chase, known mainly as the voice of Prince Noctis of Final Fantasy XV. Let us hope that both actors will do well, although in the case of Claptrap's heavily modulated voice we may not feel a great difference. Borderlands 3 will be released on September 13 on PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4.
