"We know that Borderlands is part shooter and part RPG. But how much RPG is it really? We asked Gearbox president Randy Pitchford just what’s the story with Borderlands?
Well, actually, we asked him: what’s in Borderlands for the gamer who likes a good story?
Pitchford, as we’ve now come to expect, had an interesting take on the question:
“Depends on what you mean by story. If you mean the type of person who likes to read a lot of text or likes to watch a lot of cut-scenes, then frankly, I think that person is probably reading books and watching movies.
The people that are writing the best novels in the world are much better than the people writing videogames. I’m sorry! I love our craft – and I love our videogame writers – but you know what? There is no videogame writer right now who can hold a candle to a Shakespeare or Jane Austen… or even fucking JK Rowling. So that’s where we’re going to get our passive entertainment in literature – we’re going to get it from the best in the world.
And if we’re talking about film, then… hey, we’ve won awards for our story-telling here at Gearbox with the Brothers In Arms series, but still… we’re going to get our movies from Spielberg or Bruckheimer or whoever, and those guys are much better at it than any game maker ever will be.”