Borderlands 4 is worth $200, but Randy Pitchford would like to give it away for free
Randy Pitchford believes that only with the creation of Borderlands 4 has technology finally caught up with the developers’ ambitions. In his opinion, the game is worth as much as $200, and with it the series will reach 100 million copies sold.
One of the guests at the gamescom 2025 trade fair was Randy Pitchford, the CEO and co-founder of Gearbox Software, the studio behind the Borderlands series. He gave a few interviews, sharing some details about the upcoming fourth installment of the series. Among the topics discussed were the value of the game and the sale of the entire series.
Tech has caught up with ambitions
During the interview with GamesRadar+, Pitchford talked about how the looter shooter genre has evolved since the release of the first Borderlands in 2009. He believes that only now is the technology advanced enough to fulfill the creators' ambitions for the series.
With Borderlands 4 – when you talk about evolution – I think we're finally able to have a point where the technology and the hardware has caught up to the ambition of what our game is.
According to Pitchford, Borderlands was always created with the mindset that it should be a "wide and open experience." However, so far, the devs have been forced to make certain concessions and connect locations with loading screens to make the world big enough. The fourth installment of the series is supposed to be different in this regard.
In Borderlands 4, it's seamless. The load times are gone, and the world, now, is much wider, and more open than it's ever been before.
Moreover, Pitchford mentioned that the team wants to develop the mobility of character movement in general, to allow players to perform absurd acrobatics on the border of realism and fantasy. For example, the double jump - present in video games for almost 40 years - which, as the creator admitted, doesn't make much sense, but it's a lot of fun in video games.
We can double jump. How does that make sense? Where in the rules of physics can I leap into the air and, out of mid-air, jump again. That makes no sense whatsoever. But it's really fun in the video game!
A game worth 200 dollars for free?
Some time ago, Pitchford made headlines when he stated that a true fan of the series would pay even 80 bucks for Borderlands 4. Then he explained his words, arguing that the decision about the price is not up to him. Eventually, the game was priced at 70 dollars. According to the developer, the game is worth much more, but he himself would like to give it away "for free."
Shit, I think they could charge $200. I wish they'd give it away, because then everyone would play it. That's not how the business works, but the value is there.
Pitchford is referring here to the ratio of time spent with the game to its price. Although it is an expensive fun, many titles offer enough content to engage players for hundreds of hours. It's the same with Borderlands.
You look at all the past Borderland games, we have people that spend thousands of hours in The Borderlands. If you think about that in terms of the most amount that could have ever been spent versus the time of entertainment, you can't find a better value in the world for any kind of entertainment.
Despite that, Pitchford is well aware of the realities of the market. He knows that the most important thing is that players feel the title is simply worth the price. If they feel that it is honest, then they will most likely buy it.
At the end of the day, when I want something, and I feel like what they're asking is fair, I'll get it. If I don't want something, I won't. Or if I think what they're asking of me isn't fair, I'm not going to do it. All the talk doesn't matter, at the end of the day, that's what it is.
Goal: 100 million copies sold
Meanwhile, during an interview with Insider Gaming, Pitchford took a moment to look into the future, after the release of Borderlands 4. He admitted that the team has "a few really exciting plans" which will be revealed in due time, and that they are now "experts in making Borderlands." Therefore, he explains, the new content will be "so good."
He also mentioned how he once went to gamescom with the first part of the series and tried really hard to get people's attention, but not many were interested in the project. Lots of people didn't believe in the success of Borderlands, but now the situation is drastically different.
Now, here we are with the game franchise, we will break 100 million units with this launch, easy, all in with the franchise.
According to Take-Two's financial report from May 2025, the series sold 93 million copies, and the third installment reached 22 million players. So, B4 would have to sell at least 7 million copies to reach 100 million.
Borderlands 4 will be released on September 12 on PC, PS5, and XSX/S. The Nintendo Switch 2 version will be released a bit later - on October 3rd.
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Author: Martin Bukowski
Graduate of Electronics and Telecommunications at the Gdańsk University of Technology, who decided to dedicate his life to video games. In his childhood, he would get lost in the Gothic's Valley of Mines and "grind for gold" in League of Legends. Twenty years later, games still entertain him just as much. Today, he considers the Persona series and soulslike titles from From Software as his favorite games. He avoids consoles, and a special place in his heart is reserved for PC. In his spare time, he works as a translator, is creating his first game, or spends time watching movies and series (mainly animated ones).
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