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[ultrazilla]

My View on Gearbox and its Royalty Program.

The TLDR summation:

Gearbox Game Director says Gearbox employees are getting bonuses/royalties. More are coming.
Randy Pitchford gave 30% of Gearbox away to his employees. Gearbox employees are now part owners of the company.
Certain people tried to spin the narrative(reporters looking for website clicks? disgruntled former employees?) of the situation to make Randy look bad.

Updated with current Gearbox employees commenting on Maxime's article.

Published on April 5, 2020

Maxime BabinFollow
Game Director at Gearbox Studio Québec

My name is Max Babin and I have been in this industry for over ten years, working for both small indie studios and big AAA companies. From my experience, there is no royalty system as transparent, mathematical and objective as the one that the Gearbox founders decided to implement. It is a system designed for people to reap the rewards of the entire studio’s success – independent from your position, project or how in favor you are with leadership. So, here’s what’s wrong with what has been recently reported:

• Being transparent with numbers doesn’t make them a promise. Borderlands 3 is my first major project shipped with Gearbox. We all knew it was a killer project and were super excited to see how the fans would respond to it. There were company-wide meetings where various earning projections would be displayed. These projections were displayed as an act of transparency and never made into any promises. Be cool.
• We already got royalties – and more are coming! We have not got stiffed by anyone. There was an expectation gap, but Borderlands 3 is profitable, and we already are seeing the result of it. Royalties are flowing already and more are coming. I have huge amount of respect for Randy that he had to face the disappointment of his friends and colleagues when he announced that the projections were too high. He could have pushed it off to someone else in the studio, but he didn’t. It was a display of trust and honesty; it sucks that someone would try to spin it into something it isn’t. It is particularly painful to have to discuss this at a time when millions of people outside the video game industry are struggling financially.
• We all benefit from Gearbox’ success. A few months ago, Randy decided to give away 30% of his company to the employees because he believes that those who participate should get a piece of the returns. I’m honestly surprised that this isn’t what’s making the news right now – this is huge! In addition to this formula-based royalty system, we are now part owners of the company.

I understand that honesty and transparency can bring misunderstandings and misinterpretation, but theses values are core to Gearbox’s vision. If writing this and correcting those who try to spin or hide the truth is the price to pay to protect our values, well, I am happy to do it.

To conclude, I want to share my deepest appreciation for Gearbox and – more specifically to my team in Quebec City. You guys are extremely talented and a joy to work with. I’m proud of everything we already accomplished and excited to see how we can entertain the world together.

Will be interesting to see if certain "reporters" will issue a correction/update or apology.

The comment section of the article has current Gearbox employees who are backing it and verifying it as true.

Éric Asselin
Concepteur Narratif Senior chez Gearbox Studio Québec
With more than 20 years experience in the video game industry, I also concur. I have been with Gearbox Quebec for 4 years now, and it is the sanest, most transparent, honest and horizontal display of effective leadership and work place ethics I have ever encountered. I worked for dedicated but smaller companies before, and they often struggled at becoming larger while still comprehending how to empower their employees. At Gearbox, the feeling that we are all working towards a common goal, and that our work will benefit everybody in return, is obvious. Upper management transparency within the company is above and beyond what can be expected and Randy never ceases to demonstrate his passion, creativity and involvement in our common goal to entertain the world. We often are shared player's comments on how our games impact the lives of those who play them. I feel Gearbox is a very positive, forward looking and empowering company, and I am very proud to be a part of its success. Many thanks to Maxime Babin, for shedding true light on the situation.
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Mario Notaro
Senior level designer
This. I'm also an employee of gearbox and I second everything Maxime has said here. Don't let a few disgruntled employees control the narrative.
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David Fortin
Lead Concept Artist at Gearbox Studio Québec
Couldn't have put this in better words, my friend.
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Sean Haran

Thanks for sharing and for being part of our great culture.
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Yannick Belleau-Roy
Cinematic designer | Borderlands 3 : Guns, Love and Tentacles chez Gearbox Studio Québec
Thank you for saying at loud what most employees at Gearbox thinks. At least from conversations I had with members of the Quebec team. We have some of the best conditions in the industry and I hope it will stay like that.
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Maxime Landry
Senior Designer chez Gearbox Studio Quebec
From my perspective, this is both honest and true. I am really glad you took the time to write this.
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1 Reply
Francis Couture
Concepteur de niveau chez Gearbox Studio Québec
I am very glad to see someone speaking out publically how I feel about it. Gearbox is the fourth game studio I've worked for and the work conditions are great!

 

[Ceadeus]

Randy giving 30% of the company to the employees is actually huge!

 

[DarkestHour]

It seems like a lot of the media info about Gearbox/Randy is petty bullshit.

 

[The Pleasure]

Randy giving 30% of the company to the employees is actually huge!

It's only huge if those shares were littered with thumb drive pornography and storage units of battle born.

 

[Ban Puncher]

 

[The Pleasure]

That bag is actually filled with copies of battle born.

 

[The Cockatrice]

Randy giving 30% of the company to the employees is actually huge!

Only if it's true.

 

[MiguelItUp]

This sounds like what I suspected. Jason Schreier needs to find something to do before blasting all over Twitter.

 

[darkinstinct]

Randy giving 30% of the company to the employees is actually huge!

Depends on what it means. You can give away 30 % of the voting rights but keep more than 70 % of profits. It's also likely just a scheme to keep salaries lower ("you own part of the company, it should be in your interest that it makes as much as possible").

 

[ultrazilla]

Only if it's true.

So you're saying this current Gearbox employee is lying along with all the other Gearbox employees in the comment section of the article?!
Come on man. They're now co-owners of the company. Why would they possibly lie about that?

 

[Nikana]

Correct me if I am wrong but giving away shares of GearBox doesn't really help as they are only the dev not the publisher.

The publisher is the one making the money then distributing it as intended via the contract stipulations. Having a share in Gearbox wouldn't net you much more.

 

[godhandiscen]

It seems like a lot of the media info about Gearbox/Randy is petty bullshit.

It seems like a lot of the media info is petty bullshit.

 

[The Cockatrice]

So you're saying this current Gearbox employee is lying along with all the other Gearbox employees in the comment section of the article?!
Come on man. They're now co-owners of the company. Why would they possibly lie about that?

No idea. I'm just saying, anything is possible. It started with a lie who knows what else they're all lying about.

 

[Futaleufu]

It seems like a lot of the media info about Gearbox/Randy is petty bullshit.

Nah, the Aliens Colonial Marines bullshit? All real.

 

[Aidah]

Was there a gun involved? And was it pointed at anyone's head?

I'll be honest, I don't really care about any of this, but I'm interested in the truth of things in general.

 

[Quixz]

OP has only left quotes from senior and lead team members..

 

[Codes 208]

Nah, the Aliens Colonial Marines bullshit? All real.

Or Randy being a trash person? Also real.

 

[Ban Puncher]

That bag is actually filled with copies of battle born.

"Employee bonuses are in...Randy Pitchford's Cayman Islands bank account!"

"Would you like to develop for Gearbox Studios again?"

"You have selected...No."

 

[StreetsofBeige]

So if more royalty money is coming and employees now own a piece of the company is Jason Schreier going to update his article?

Or is he just going to leave it and hope his narrative sticks forever?