Not much time to write today, which means this has to be a drive by posting of sorts, as I briefly sift through all of the gaming nonsense and comment on something quickly before I move on This leaves me with the thought of the $80 price tag talking point for video games that keeps cropping up within the industry, most notably with Gearbox Software CEO Randy Pitchford’s recent comments on their upcoming looter shooter Borderlands 4 coming to pass to be inaccurate, as the game’s base retail version went up for pre-order for $70.

The irony being of course that there are two other versions with more content available, being priced at $100 and $130 respectively, which goes to show you can have your cake and eat it to, with publisher 2k being able to say they delivered a “satisfying price” for a variety of consumers with different wants and need. Aside from being curious about the difference in final sales numbers from the three different tiers of prices available, I think my other curiosity is what the price of bad marketing is, as Pitchford’s comments were discussed with a sort of ire that was heavily weighted against the idea of the Borderlands 4 launch from a fan point of view, and the negative press surrounding his comments associated with the title could have generated more harm than good in the long run. They say any press is good press, but if the community is just trashing your game, even when it comes out and isn’t $80, how many equivalents of $70 did you end up losing in the process?

Borderlands 4 launches September 12th.

~Pashford