Borderlands 4 boss Randy Pitchford says it’s “not my call” if the looter-shooter sequel costs $80 or not, but also thinks that “real” fans will pay whatever they have to to get their hands on it.

After one Borderlands fan expressed their desire that Borderlands 4 not cost $80, Pitchford said that the game’s pricing was “not my call” – while he might have some influence, publisher Take-Two Interactive is likely to have the final say on cost. However, Pitchford also had some choice advice for players who might balk at that inflated price tag: Just find the money.

“If you’re a real fan, you’ll find a way to make it happen,” Pitchford says of that potential $80 figure, before embarking on a personal anecdote to drive his point home. See, his local game store had a copy of 1991 Sega Genesis space sim Starflight for sale three decades ago, and Pitchford found the money to pay for it, even though he was “just out of high school working minimum wage at an ice cream parlor.”

Now, the US Inflation Calculator suggests that an $80 purchase in 1991 is worth a tasty $190 today, and I do have to question just how good Starflight must have been to have encouraged Randy to spend that kind of cash. Importantly, however, given that he says he was “just out of high school” when he made that purchase, I’m willing to bet this was a pre-college job and that Randy had minimal living expenses around that time. Factor in that Pitchford’s father was a senior technology developer inside the US intelligence system, and perhaps a $200 game was more affordable for him than for many of the rest of us.

If you feel like I might not be impressed by Pitchford’s line of argument there – especially in this economy – then you might be glad to know I’m not alone. The replies beneath that particular tweet are filled with players who are slightly baffled to see a CEO still rocking the ‘just buy it’ line in 2025. It’s a strange move, but I suppose it is at least in line with Pitchford’s no-nonsense approach to social media.

Steam users are review bombing the Borderlands games following Take-Two’s new user agreement: “I don’t feel comfortable with the terms of service.”