author: Michael Kulakowski
Gearbox CEO Responds to Review Bombing of Borderlands on Steam
Randy Pitchford, the CEO of Gearbox Software, has made it clear what he thinks about fans who started review bombing previous installments of the series on Steam in response to Borderlands 3' launch on Epic Games Store.
The PC version of the long-awaited co-op shooter Borderlands 3 will be available only on Epic Games Store for the first six months. Even the owners of boxed editions will have to use the platform. Needless to say that the fans of the series are not pleased with such a turn of events, so for some time now, as part of the protest, they have been review bombing the earlier installments of the series, which are available on Steam. In response to the tweet of one of his employees who noticed this trend, Randy Pitchford, head of Gearbox Software, provided a clear statement on what he thinks about such practices.
Ironically, that this misuse is possible and that Steam has no interest in correcting this misuse makes me kind of happy about 2K’s decision and makes me want to reconsider Gearbox Publishing’s current posture on the platform.
The 2K Games' decision mentioned by Pitchford in the Tweet is, of course, the exclusivity deal signed with Epic Games Store. Besides, we must point out that the head of Gearbox is not entirely right. Steam began to fight more decisively against review bombing. What is more, the filters prepared by the website have fulfilled their role, so that the overall rating of the games has not changed significantly. The effects of fans' actions are not as noticeable as in other protests that took place a few months ago. Let's recall that the Metro series has recently come under a similar attack on Steam, after it turned out that its latest installmentwill not be available on Steam for a year.
Borderlands 3 will be released on September 13, this year on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. The title will be available in four editions: Standard, Deluxe (including additional skins and minor bonuses), Super Deluxe (Deluxe contents plus season pass) and Collector's Edition. If you decide to pre-order the game, you will also receive golded skins for your weapons. The price of the game in the Epic Games store is $59.99 for the Standard edition, $79.99 for Deluxe and $99.99 for Super Deluxe.
