Image credit: Gearbox

Is $80 too much for a new AAA game? The gaming community seems to agree that the prices of upcoming titles are getting out of hand.

Randy Pitchford, the CEO of Gearbox, remains unphased, though, and instead of trying to calm the people down and reason with the gamers, he added more fuel to the fire with his recent statement.

Borderlands 4 for $80 – Why Are People Mad?

First things first, it’s not yet confirmed that Borderlands 4 will cost $80 on release but it’s a very realistic scenario, considering what happened on X/Twitter recently. One of the commenters voiced concern about the possibility of slapping an $80 price tag on Borderlands 4 and warned Randy that people won’t pay that much for a single game.

When Randy was talking about the pricing of Borderlands 4 during PAX East 2025, he sounded rather reasonable and gave a good explanation of how the price is decided. Most importantly, he brought up the development cost, which is reportedly twice as large as the budget of Borderlands 3. Naturally, a company wants to make money, so if Gearbox doubled the budget, the price must also go up to cover the costs.

But consumers don’t care about that. People’s wallets aren’t bottomless; there’s a cap on how much an average person can pay for a new game. Just because the game costs more to develop, doesn’t mean players will be willing to pay for that. And this, combined with Randy’s rather arrogant response to the tweet mentioned above, made people extremely angry. So, what Randy said?

The Real Reason Behind People’s Anger

Here’s Randy’s reply:

And that’s what poured salt on the wound. People weren’t particularly mad about the possibility of the new Borderlands game costing $80. They were upset and disappointed to some degree, yes, but the real outrage stemmed from this specific reply from Randy, as it came off – quite literally – as saying “Just stop being poor, bro”.

Saying that a true fan will find a way to get the game, no matter how expensive it is, shows a clear disconnection between the developers and the fans of the franchise. The way Randy said it, feels like a punch in the gut; players are being treated as nothing more than a resource – a herd of mindless sheep that exists solely to drive the numbers in an Excel spreadsheet up and deserve neither understanding nor sympathy.

Later, Randy posted a humbler tweet:

However, at this point it’s difficult to say what he really thinks. Is this the real him right now or is it just a PR stunt to save the face?

Are $80 Games a New Reality?

Although people made it clear that they’re upset with the pricing in the AAA segment of video games, there’s a very good reason to believe that such prices will become the norm soon. Inflation drives all prices up, everything becomes more expensive, and the future seems to be filled with uncertainty. In a reality where it’s increasingly difficult for people to get by, and the wage gap between the poor and the rich grows by the day, video games become more of a luxury good than ever.

Even though players can – and already do – loudly voice their dissatisfaction about the topic, it’s unlikely to bring a significant impact on the matter, as prices are largely affected by the market and there’s not much the developers or publishers could do about it. Or could they? Perhaps it’s time to think about cutting down the development costs of new games; otherwise, people will simply refuse to buy new games and might turn to alternatives, such as diving into indie games or going back to older titles that can be purchased for dirt cheap on discounts – perhaps it’s finally time to clear your backlog of games and see what you’ve missed over the years.

In any case, we should be prepared for the upcoming changes, as all signs point to such prices becoming normalized in the near future. Grand Theft Auto 6, for example, is also speculated to cost at least $80 on release, with a possibility of going even higher than that.

Borderlands 4 – Release Date

Borderlands 4 is scheduled to be released on September 12th, 2025. The final date is subject to change, so keep an eye on official announcements and news. The game will be available on Steam, Epic, PlayStation, and Xbox. Switch 2 release should be coming at a later date.