Gearbox founder Randy Pitchford was recently interviewed by Shacknews alongside a few other colleagues to discuss the making of Borderlands 4, the studio's latest game, which was released on September 12.
The video runs for 73 minutes, and right toward the end, Pitchford goes into exactly what is needed to create such a big videogame like Borderlands 4. Interestingly, he then adds that the gaming industry as a whole is just getting started and 'figuring out' videogames, which haven't yet received their 'Citizen Kane' moment yet.
To make a game like Borderlands 4 takes a big investment. It's a massive, massive game. Hundreds and hundreds of people for years. And that's very expensive. The budgets of our big video games now are larger than the budgets of blockbuster movies. You can't easily make that decision to commit those kinds of resources towards a thing, whether you're the person who has the cash or you're any individual on that team, to decide to commit that portion of your life to that endeavor.
It can only happen if everybody in that loop believes that what is being imagined has more value to exist in the world than what it takes to create it, which means you both need the idea of what it takes to create it, the belief in what it takes to create it, and a sense of what it might be worth if it was created. And everybody has to have that understanding, or it just doesn't work. And I love that I'm in it and I love that we're just getting started. When I say we, I'm talking about the entire industry. Like, we haven't even had our Citizen Kane yet, let alone, you know, Jurassic Park or Star Wars. We're just figuring this out. But it's fun.
Cinephiles already know that Pitchford is referencing the film directed by Orson Welles. Released in 1941, it is considered the first true masterpiece in cinema, not to mention one of the best movies ever made to this day.
While Pitchford may have a point in that gaming is not yet as developed as other entertainment media, it has been 54 years since the release of the first commercial game (Computer Space), and many gamers would agree that the medium has already provided multiple 'Citizen Kanes' to date. Its evolution is arguably even faster than cinema's, and nowadays, movie and TV companies are fighting to get the rights to adapt gaming franchises way more than vice versa.
It may not be as controversial a statement as some Borderlands 4 claims made by the Gearbox founder, but it's still bound to get gamers talking.
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