NEWS Videospiel News (5 Betrachter)

The former general counsel of game studio Gearbox (Borderlands, Aliens: Colonial Marines) and CEO Randy Pitchford are suing one another in a messy legal battle that sees both men accused of violating their legal duties to the company. The suit against Pitchford is full of sensational allegations, including the accusation that the Gearbox CEO received a secret $12 million bonus from publisher Take-Two Interactive as an advance against Borderlands profits.

Wade Callender, who served as Gearbox’s lawyer from 2010 until 2018, filed a suit on December 21, 2018 accusing Pitchford of violating various contracts involving both Gearbox and a separate real estate company that they both owned, as well as Callender’s own employment contract.




“The allegations made by a disgruntled former employee are absurd, with no basis in reality or law,” said a Gearbox spokesperson in a statement to Kotaku. “We look forward to addressing this meritless lawsuit in court and have no further comment at this time.”

Callender’s suit was filed one month after Gearbox sued him, in a separate case, for fraud and breach of fiduciary duty. Gearbox alleged that Callender borrowed money from Gearbox for a home loan and tuition that he did not pay back in full, and that Callender “abused the privilege of credit card access by charging unapproved, wholly personal expenses, including family vacations, gun club memberships and firearms accessories, and trying to get six-pack abs.” Gearbox also accused Callender of destroying evidence of the home loan agreement he made with the studio. You can read that suit in full below.

According to Callender’s lawsuit, which you can also read in full below, Callender and Pitchford were longtime friends (backed up by an old tweet from Pitchford) whose relationship fell apart over the last two years.

The lawsuit alleges that Pitchford struck a deal in 2016 to receive a “personal, secretive ‘Executive Bonus’ 0f $12,000,000 to be paid directly to Pitchford entity called ‘Pitchford Entertainment Media Magic, LLC.’” That bonus, Callender and his lawyers argue, is an advance upon royalties that would otherwise go to Gearbox’s staff. “This is particularly tragic exploitation,” the lawsuit states, “because these millions are being syphoned to Randy Pitchford’s personal accounts instead of funding the development of Borderlands.”

Callender’s most lurid allegation against Pitchford is an accusation surrounding an event that he says occurred in 2014. Callender says that Pitchford left a USB drive in a Dallas, Texas restaurant containing sensitive corporate documents for Gearbox and its partners including 2K Games, Sega, Sony, Microsoft, and others. Says the lawsuit: “Upon information and belief, Randy Pitchford’s USB drive also contained Randy Pitchford’s personal collection of ‘underage’ pornography.”

Callender also accuses Pitchford of holding parties in which “adult men have reportedly exposed themselves to minors, to the amusement of Randy Pitchford.”

Gearbox, founded in 1999, is best known for the critically and commercially acclaimed Borderland series. The studio also developed Brothers in Arms and Duke Nukem Forever. Pitchford, an outspoken figure who has become renowned for his brash statements and love of magic, has courted controversy several times over the years, most notably for his statements on the critically panned Aliens: Colonial Marines. That game also became the center of messy litigation back in 2014.

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RaRa schrieb:

Glaube dazu guck ich mir dann lieber die Netflix Verfilmung an zuviele links und co um alles zu lesen. Was top ist und keine Kritik .

Aber Zusammenfassung ist? Die haben palavern und einer hat nen usb Stick mit schweinkram der übelsten Sorte?

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funGus schrieb:

Sie arbeiten an einem ersten Spiel, bei dem es sich um ein taktisches Tabletop RPG für nicht näher genannte Konsolen handelt.

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Alright, another one for the WB Montreal rumor mill BUT TAKE WITH A HUGE GRAIN OF SALT.

Artist Eddie Mendoza (who works for Apple) recently posted a series of 3 keyframe images that he specified were "just for fun" which depicted Batman engaged in combat against Talons. This would not normally be newsworthy, though the man is very talented, except that a few days ago he suddenly took the images down without any explanation. Just gone entirely from his ArtStation account (where he first posted them) without any evidence they ever existed. Since they weren't breaking any rules or terms of service that I can see and I don't see him getting a cease and desist from Warner Bros. over a bunch of drawings that he specifically said WEREN'T official, this is a bit weird. Even more curious, he also apparently works as a freelancer and one of his clients is Warner Bros.

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Bandai Namco Europe has preemptively announced a new Action RPG in the Dragon Ball franchise, known currently as Dragon Ball Game Project Z.

No concrete details are known yet about this upcoming game other than it is labeled an Action RPG. Bandai Namco indicates that more information will be shared on at the Dragon Ball FighterZ World Tour Finals on January 26 and January 27, although it is unclear if that information will be pertinent to this newly announced RPG, or if those announcements will focus solely on the fighting game.

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The Game Developers Conference has shared its latest 2019 survey, revealing some new interesting details about the state of our industry. According to the survey, the PC remains the leading platform as the majority of developers are making/releasing their games for it.

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The Game Developers Conference has surveyed nearly 4,000 game developers and 56% of them said that their previous game was released on the PC. Furthermore, 66% of them stated that their next game will hit the PC platform and 62% anticipates that its next game will be released on it.

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0shikuru schrieb:

Dragonball Action RPG von CyberConnect 2 (u.a. Asuras Wrath, Ultimate Ninja Storm-Reihe) angekündigt

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Warte schon ewig auf ein Action RPG im Dragonball Universum. Mit CC2 sind auch gescheite Entwickler am Start, was Inszenierung (Asuras Wrath) und Kampfsysteme (Ultimate Ninja Storm) angeht. I freu mir.

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