We have all seen how good Borderlands 3 did with its sales when it was launched last fall, but we have heard that employees who work to make it that good, will not enjoy its popularity.
2K Games, its published, described the game as being a “billion-dollar global brand,” and employees were supposed to benefit from this. The CEO of Gearbox, Randy Pitchford, has promised that they would get special bonuses and royalties to the company, but employees were recently told that they would not get any of that. They will still get small bonuses in the form of checks, but this is not what they were promised. This info comes from insiders who shared their accounts.
The studio was supposed to offer the same profit-sharing that they had been offering over the years, with royalties split 60/40, with 60% going to the company, and 40% going to employees, in forms of quarterly bonuses. When it comes to the original Borderlands 2, this situation happened, and employees got massive bonuses, and it was a huge payday for many employees.
However, Gearbox has found itself in difficulty ever since then, even if Borderlands 3 sold great. Pitchford told their employees that their bonus checks would be lower than they expected. They also said that if employees weren’t happy with the royalty system, then they were welcome to quit.
Gearbox stated: “In the most recent pay period Gearbox talent enjoyed news that Borderlands 3, having earned revenue exceeding the largest investment ever made by the company into a single video game, had officially become a profitable video game and the talent at Gearbox that participates in the royalty bonus system has now earned their first royalty bonus on that profit. Gearbox is a private company that does not issue forward-looking statements to the public, but we do practice transparency within our own family.”
