Randy Pitchford And The Feud With The Voice of Claptrap

Published: May 8, 2019 6:07 PM /

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Randy Pitchford And The Feud With The Voice of Claptrap

Randy Pitchford's confrontational new year continues, as his dispute with David Eddings, the former voice of Claptrap, has appeared to reach the level of a feud. This is only the latest in a series of disputes that Pitchford has been in, that began earlier this year when a lawsuit was filed alleging embezzlement.

More recently, Randy got into a feud with GameInformer. Last week we reported on the microtransactions in Borderlands 3, though Gearbox Software CEO Randy Pitchford had told the audience before the gameplay reveal: "There’s not going to be any microtransactions, there’s not going to be any of that nonsense." He later elaborated that he felt his statement was clear that he meant no premium currency or pay-to-win, but as seen in the original video, he quite clearly states "no microtransactions" without any qualifications or clarity. Following a report from GameInformer, Pitchford took to Twitter and had a long and heated argument with the Editor-In-Chief of GameInformer, Andy McNamara. If you want to see for yourself, you can still watch the Twitter argument here, here, here, and here.

Later, on Friday, we also reported that voice actor David Eddings, the voice of Claptrap in all Borderlands games would not reprise the role in Borderlands 3 and future games, due to a pay dispute. In his tweet, Eddings also mentioned a "12 million payment from 2K,"  referring to the accusation against Randy Pitchford by a former lawyer of the company, which Kotaku reported earlier this year. The accusation hasn’t been proven true or false, and the lawsuits are still unfolding.

Following Eddings' tweet, Pitchford once again took to Twitter and said the following about Eddings:

https://twitter.com/DuvalMagic/status/1124772468114087936

In a Twitter thread, Eddings fired back:

I was fine moving on after Gearbox. But when my former boss starts mouthing off about various aspects of my employment including “how highly compensated” I was and how “generous” he is, I feel obligated to correct the record.

I had a lot of mixed feelings when asked to reprise the role of Claptrap late last year and eventually realized I was willing to put differences aside and do something cool for Borderlands fans with my friends at Gearbox.

I ultimately offered to do it for “free” in exchange for past royalties owed plus an apology for something I’ve never spoken about publicly until now: Randy physically assaulted me in the lobby of the Marriott Marquis at GDC 2017.

Personally, I think Randy’s been on tilt the last few years. He's not the victim he portrays himself to be. I even blocked him a couple years ago for stalking me on social media. Enough is enough.

It's nice not feeling the need to spot any sleight of hand these days or wonder if the card was chosen or forced. I'm happy to be free from the half-truths and full-on deceptions. And thankful to no longer hear people referred to as "muggles" like a con-man refers to a "mark".

As an aside, seems a bit conspicuous that he chimed in on my salary but didn't mention anything about the $12M of revenue he siphoned away from the employee royalty pool. FYI - GBX employees are asked to take lower salaries with the promise of royalty shares.

2K says they won't give a statement regarding an ongoing lawsuit but if the allegation is false then it sure seems a lot easier to just deny it since that's the only reason they're mentioned. The whole thing stinks.

Yesterday PC Gamer reported on the whole feud, and reached out to 2K Games and Gearbox Software for comment on the allegations. Earlier today they updated the article with a response from Gearbox Software:
Gearbox takes any and all claims of this nature very seriously and we will abstain from commenting on the allegations Dave is making because it is a personnel matter. We appreciate David’s contributions to the Borderlands franchise and have continued to assert we would welcome him back into the mix as the voice of Claptrap and other future opportunities.
They refrained from commenting on the $12 million accusations, which is still an ongoing lawsuit. Earlier this morning Eddings responded to the statement on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/davideddings/status/1126198609635106822

He also added in another tweet that the HR department of Gearbox Software was informed of the assault on the morning of March 6, 2017, and Pitchford fired him the day after.

https://twitter.com/davideddings/status/1126198610637537280

Another related incident in all this controversy is that Pitchford recently said of another voice actor, in reply to a query:

https://twitter.com/DuvalMagic/status/1115943285007290368

Troy Baker had previously shown interest in reprising the role on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/TroyBakerVA/status/1111371678993375233

In a recent exclusive interview with a YouTube channel, however, Troy Baker hit back against Pitchford's statement, suggesting he should fact-check before tweeting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFI1IdwuPbU

What do you think of the entire debacle? Who do you think should be the new voice actor for Claptrap in Borderlands 3?

Have a tip, or want to point out something we missed? Leave a Comment or e-mail us at tips@techraptor.net


Richard Costa
| Staff Writer

Hack for hire, indentured egghead, maverick thoughtcriminal. Mainly interested in Western RPGs, first-person immersion, turn-based tactics, point-and-… More about Richard

More Info About This Game
Learn more about Borderlands 3
Game Page Borderlands 3
Developer
Gearbox Software
Publisher
2K Games
Platforms
Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC
Release Date
September 13, 2019 (Calendar)
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