As Gamers Express Concern About Borderlands 4 Potentially Costing $80, Gearbox Chief Randy Pitchford Says: ‘If You’re a Real Fan, You’ll Find a Way to Make It Happen’

Outspoken Gearbox chief Randy Pitchford has responded to a fan who expressed concern in regards to the prospect of paying $80 for Borderlands 4, saying: “if you’re a real fan, you’ll find a way to make it happen.”

The online game trade has made the bounce to $80, first with Nintendo and Mario Kart World, then with Microsoft and its value hike announcement that may kick on this vacation season. Might Borderlands 4 observe go well with?

Writer 2K Video games and guardian firm Take-Two have so-far remained obscure on whether or not they may go to $80, and Randy Pitchford has insisted the choice is out of his management. However, responding to one concerned fan on social media, Pitchford set the cat among the many pigeons by saying that in the event you’re a “real fan, you’ll find a way to make it happen.”

Right here’s the alternate:

“Randy, this game better not be 80 dollars. Don’t take that risk, a lot of gamers aren’t gonna pay 80 dollars and feed this notion of constant increase of the price tag. You are the CEO, you have some say with the price when it comes to your publisher.”

And this is Randy Pitchford’s response:

“A) Not my call. B) If you’re a real fan, you’ll find a way to make it happen. My local game store had Starflight for Sega Genesis for $80 in 1991 when I was just out of high school working minimum wage at an ice cream parlor in Pismo Beach and I found a way to make it happen.”

As you’d anticipate, Pitchford’s remark has sparked a vociferous response.

“Lmao CEO said ‘real fan’ WHOOO WEEEE in this economy,” stated one social media person. “Wow that’s probably a bad take… cost of living crisis and you’re just gonna say ‘if you’re a real fan…’ damn,” stated one other. “What an elitist out of touch response,” one other stated. “His solution just buy it you know you will. Is this how you treat loyal consumers?” “You should have just left that response at ‘not my call’ and kept the gaslighting out of your response,” another added.

Last week, during a PAX East panel, Pitchford insisted that he didn’t know the Borderlands 4 price but refused to rule out $80.

“I’ll tell you the truth. I don’t know. That is the truth. I’ll hit it straight on. It’s an interesting time,” he stated.

“On one level, we’ve got a competitive marketplace where the people that make those choices want to sell as many units as possible and they want to be careful about people that are price-sensitive. There are some folks who don’t want to see prices go up, even the ones deciding what the prices are.

“There’s other people accepting the fact that sport budgets are rising, and there is tariffs for the retail packaging. It is getting gnarly on the market, you guys. Borderlands 4 has greater than twice the event funds for Borderlands 3. Greater than twice. So the reality is, I do not know what the value goes to be.”

In a recent interview, IGN asked Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick if the company would go to $80 for its games. Zelnick wouldn’t say either way, but did say consumers would be “willing to pay for the very best.”

“I have said for a long time that we offer enormous value and that that’s our job,” Zelnick said. “Of course, we certainly believe that compared to other forms of entertainment, whether that’s movie tickets or live events or streaming services, the value for our entertainment that we offer is just astonishing, and it’s our job. It’s our job to deliver much more value than what we charge. That’s our goal. We think consumers are willing to pay for the very best. It’s our job to make the very best.”

Earlier this month, 2K announced a cheaper than expected $50 price point for Mafia: The Old Country, confirming that it is not an open-world game, rather a linear, narrative-driven game. The announcement was positively received, with many fans saying they’re more interested in a high quality, cheaper, shorter story-driven Mafia game than a bloated open-world game filled with repetitive mechanics.

Indeed, there seems to be a growing call for more of these cheaper, manageable games, with Sandfall’s well-received Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, which has sold an impressive 2 million copies despite being available day-one on Game Pass, held up as a potential trend-setter.

Given Borderlands 4 is due out September 12, 2025, 2K Games will have to announce the price sooner rather than later.

Photo by Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images for Lionsgate.

Wesley is Director, Information at IGN. Discover him on Twitter at @wyp100. You possibly can attain Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].