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Kotaku: Despite Huge Sales, Borderlands 3 Developers Are Getting Stiffed On Bonuses
- Thread starter Kenzodielocke
- Start date
This was the expected outcome. When Tim Sweeny was telling people how Epic's money goes to the developers, I questioned how we could sure that the money was going to actual developers and not just CEOs or publishers. I specifically thought about Borderlands 3 and how, given Randy's history, that exclusivity money may not be used for the betterment of the staff.
How much did Randy pocket?
Gearbox should've taken some notes from those fucks at 2k. Litter the game with predatory mtx, slot machines, paid gun skins, etc.
It's probably these scummy practices Gearbox can keep in business, promising workers bonusses while Randy keeps his lavish lifestyle.
So is anything going to be done about this? Developers out here getting worked and crunched to dust and then not get paid what was promised left and right and I never see an article about anything getting better :/
30m in development costs
10m in USB drives
20m in medieval times tickets
80m in squirting videos
I mean, if they constantly are told about the bonuses that the teams got due to Borderlands 2, it seemed somewhat reasonable to expect a decent payout from Borderlands 3. I wish there was a little more detail on what "financially planning" meant here specifically. If it was buying a huge house or luxury car then yeah, that was foolish. But if it was timing having a kid or moving or something, that doesn't seem too crazy to do if there is a reasonable expectation of a payout.
I won't ever defend Pitchford but, as a general rule, never, ever commit to anything financially based on a bonus until the money is in your bank account. That is true for every single job in every single industry.
It had to be in production for years. Also probably includes marketing.
That's how I approach stuff as well. I just meant that I can absolutely see the allure of making decisions based on these promises.
Especially with low wages lol. Randy pocketed at least some. 100%.
Found the person who probably doesn't live and/or makes plans with their own money. Credits, loans and more are basic and vital in our economy, people make plans with money they expect to receive from their employer.
I got Borderlands 3 for free with a GPU purchase I made, and I still havent even played it yet strictly because I cant stand Randy. I loved Borderlands 1 and 2, but hearing all about his scummy management practices and general asshole behavior really soured me on Borderlands and Gearbox
Again, this just leads back into repeating that every industry is a capitalist greed monster trying to fuck over all of it's workers at every opportunity.
According to that article Gearbox is looking into going public at the stock market.
Which ... hmm ... well ... might not work out well for Pitchford depending on how influential shareholders will get?
Also people shouldn't be surprised BL3 is a $140M game with DLC included ... probably a majority of third party big releases are around that ballpark and BL3 has a lot of fucking content and time put into it.
Nah I don't feel bad about it. Would buy Borderlands 4 day one as well. These games are good and I won't drop something I enjoy because Pitchford is an asshole. He would be like this if the game is sucessful or not.
Which ... hmm ... well ... might not work out well for Pitchford depending on how influential shareholders will get?
Also people shouldn't be surprised BL3 is a $140M game with DLC included ... probably a majority of third party big releases are around that ballpark and BL3 has a lot of fucking content and time put into it.
Nah I don't feel bad about it. Would buy Borderlands 4 day one as well. These games are good and I won't drop something I enjoy because Pitchford is an asshole. He would be like this if the game is sucessful or not.
It'S really not that crazy of a number for a big AAA game nowadays...
Yeah, well...
*takes a shit on the welcome mat*
Just for you, Randy.
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Especially with low wages lol. Randy pocketed at least some. 100%.
Pocketed segas money to get borderlands 1 so I wouldn't be shocked tbh.
Scum fuck taking a stupid bonus like $16 million is a slap in the face to your employees dirtbag.
What an absolute scumbag. Pay employees less than they're worth by saying they'll make it up in bonuses, then deny those bonuses, then tell employees to quit if they're upset. Meanwhile he has no qualms taking money from company coffers to give himself a $16 million bonus back in 2016.
I'd like to know that too. The article mentions delays and switching from UE3 to UE4 but that seems dubious. Especially considering they were underpaying the employees.
Wouldn't the EGS payment cover that though...
Borderlands 2 cost between 30-35 millions, not 140.... by all accounts BL3 isn't that much more ambitious, production values wise.
This and every job I've ever worked at where a Bonus was a part of the deal for your salary(and every time it was always to make up for a pay cut), there's always fine print for why they won't be obligated to give you the bonus amount they mention in your contract.
It's incredibly awful how according to publishers telling shareholders and marketing, the game was a huge success and made tons of money but when it comes to the employees, it missed targets, was too expensive, blah blah blah to pay them accordingly. What a fucking disgrace to those who put in the work to get shafted in the end.
Jason has probably more insight but 100M (that 140 figure is with the DLC included) is pretty standard for AAA games nowadays. And yeah BL3 isn't more ambitious, but its bigger and took longer to make with engine shift in development.
Was 30-35 milion including DLC? The figure was 95m for the base game and they are implying the staff was significantly larger. Seems pretty in-line with other AAA budgets we've heard this gen.
30-35 million for a 2012 game, now things have changed.
You have up to 1000 people working on AAA titles including outsourcing and massive marketing campaigns cost millions.
BL3 costing this amount is not surprising when you know that a much smaller game with less content called Shadow of The Tomb Raider costed between 100-135 million USD including marketing https://kotaku.com/shadow-of-the-tomb-raider-cost-75-100-million-to-make-1825952948
95 the main game, and 45 million for their post-launch plans. Whether that includes marketing or other non-dev costs, is not clear. Given the cost of AAA development, probably not.