Randy Pitchford, the controversial CEO of Gearbox Entertainment, announced today he will be leaving his role as President of Gearbox Software to become the new President of Gearbox Studios, appointing former-CTO Steve Jones as his replacement. According to a series of Tweets by Pitchford, he will remain the CEO of Gearbox Entertainment, which comprises of three central groups: Gearbox Software, now headed by Steve Jones, the in-house game development studio; Gearbox Publishing, headed by Steve Gibson, in charge of publishing games, including those not developed by Gearbox Software; and Gearbox Studios, headed by Randy Pitchford, a new "transmedia" unit Pitchford is hoping to grow, likely working on non-games products like the Borderlands movie.

"Steve embodies the Gearbox Entertainment Company's mission to Entertain the World and he personifies the Gearbox values of Happiness, Creativity, and Profit," reads an excerpt from an internal company memo Pitchford published on his Twitter account. "...the simplest thing I could say is that he is better than me."

As CEO of The Gearbox Entertainment Company, Pitchford's job is to be "accountable and responsible for high level creative and business strategy as well as the interaction between our business units," according to that same memo. He also says that, as Gearbox has no official Chief Creative Officer title, he will occasionally be acting in that role as well, to ensure consistent creative strategy and development, without the risk of "homogenizing [their] brands and franchises" that comes with a full-time CCO.

Congratulations to Steve Jones, who I have recently promoted to become President of Software at The Gearbox Entertainment Company. Attached is a diagram of the high level organization chart along with excerpts from my internal staff letter announcing the promotion. pic.twitter.com/4FeX94SIW2

— Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) October 6, 2021

 

[Plasmaster09]

so basically he's trying to cheap dodge whatever's made him controversial by playing a shell game with the groups without actually stepping down as CEO

 

[Xzi]

Seems like he's "stepping down" by giving himself a promotion, and also probably doubling his own salary by claiming to head up two divisions now instead of one. What a fucking clown.

 

[relauby]

Seems like he's "stepping down" by giving himself a promotion, and also probably doubling his own salary by claiming to head up two divisions now instead of one. What a fucking clown.

Well, he's heading up the central company, and one division, but he's the hybrid CCO, so he's still kind of in charge of everything? When he feels like it, I guess?

 

[RedoLane]

"How to step down from a position while not actually stepping down"
-101 Industry Magic, a Randy Pitchford guidebook

 

[Xzi]

Well, he's heading up the central company, and one division, but he's the hybrid CCO, so he's still kind of in charge of everything? When he feels like it, I guess?

Yeah, being that he's the one making the decision, I'm guessing his salary went up at least somewhat, and he's probably going to be charging an additional consulting fee when acting as CCO. I don't understand how the shareholders can possibly be okay with any of this.

 

[RichardTheKing]

Fuck Randy.
Left a porn drive somewhere, and when questioned about it (because it was of course found) he claimed it was "magic" or some shit excuse. Not to mention bloody Aliens, and everything else he's done.

Just fire his stupid, controversial ass, Gearbox; remove that shit-stain!

 

[ClownPrinceOfCrime]

We'll never forget your sins, Randy.

 

[Jonna]

Damn, I was so excited for the potential possibility of having some one in charge that would actually let the Duke Nukem Forever '98 build come out (paid or not), but if Randy is still associated, it won't happen.

 

[Kioku]

So... This means nothing.

 

[Dr_Faustus]

I wonder what will happen if the Borderlands movie bombs if they will dissolve the studio in the same way SE did when FF: The Spirits Within bombed at the box office.

I got my popcorn ready regardless.

 

[diggeloid]

Maybe this will finally give him the free time he needs to watch porn at work. Good for him.

 

[The Catboy]

>“Steps down”
>still ceo of the company
>”stepped down”

 

[tech3475]

This just feels like smoke and mirrors.

 

[raxadian]

So he was just moved to another company, still part of the same group, and nothing really changed?

 

[codezer0]

Yeah, being that he's the one making the decision, I'm guessing his salary went up at least somewhat, and he's probably going to be charging an additional consulting fee when acting as CCO. I don't understand how the shareholders can possibly be okay with any of this.

Last I checked, the problem is that gearbox is not a publicly traded company. If it was, the shareholders would have booted him out years ago.

 

[the_randomizer]

Why are billionaire CEOs such pantywaists?

 

[wolf-snake]

He was still in the company?