The surprising success of Borderlands — some 3 million units have been sold since its launch in 2009 — has earned Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford some serious bragging rights. He exercised them in a recent interview with Gamasutra, calling out analyst Michael Pachter for suggesting that Borderlands had been “sent to die” before the game’s release.
“We were sandwiched between the two biggest first-person shooter franchises ever,” Pitchford said. “And the guys at BioWare, who walk on water, were releasing Dragon Age around the same time.”
“It was tough for me, because it’s Mike’s job to analyze these things,” he said, adding, “You know what, Mike? I knew you were wrong.”
Pachter made those comments back in October 2009. At the time, he summarized Borderlands’ chances as “sent to die. I think Borderlands is the definition of a game that should have had it’s own window and not be up against all this stuff.”
“It’s absolutely the same audience. I don’t think it’s as much an RPG as they would like us to believe. If it’s an RPG, Dragon Age is going to kick its butt; and if it’s a shooter, Call of Duty or something else is going to kick its butt.”
Even Pitchford admitted some trepidation last July, “When people take risks and it’s not rewarded, in the case of Mirror’s Edge, it’s makes it harder for others to be comfortable taking risks. Yeah, I’m terrified. And [Borderlands is] an original brand, too, so it’s even more risky.”
Of course, Borderlands was a massive success, and is set to add a third DLC pack soon. Beyond that, a sequel is pretty much a no-brainer. Amazing how much things can change over the course of six months, isn’t it?
