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Former Gearbox employee (allegedly) provides "proof" that Randy Pitchford diverted funds to a personal company
- Thread starter SFLUFAN
- Start date
why the "allegedly" and quotes around proof? It's proof. An actual amendment to a contract that funds were diverted. If you actually read the article it says it's still unclear whether those funds were originally meant for Randy in the first place, thus justifying that amended contract. But sure. Keep up the spin to defend Randy Pitchford.
Lol I hope Randy gets burned in this lawsuit and gets tossed out of Gearbox or forced to step down.
This OP is more bias the court case the document came from! xD
If this is true, then that is a massive dick move and surely must be illegal? But as we all know, Gearbox probably won't do anything about it and people will still buy Borderlands 3. So, business as usual, I guess.
Also your hyperlink doesn't lead anywhere.
If this is true, then that is a massive dick move and surely must be illegal? But as we all know, Gearbox probably won't do anything about it and people will still buy Borderlands 3. So, business as usual, I guess.
Also your hyperlink doesn't lead anywhere.
didnt this happen with Sega and Colonial Marines? Isnt that the reason why Randy is afraid to travel to Japan?
It's okay, eventually you will get older and care about things like embezzling and humans not suffering to make toys
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So I mean this is a thread specifically about the allegation of embezzlement so coming in here to say that does make you seem very silly, yes.
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I guess it's technically not true tbh. I watch No Clip and documentaries all of the time because learning about the insane stories behind the games is always exciting. So, I do appreciate you challenging me.
I guess I'm just excited for BL3.
I really shouldn't be so defensive of a gajillionaire I'll never meet
Not surprising, Pitchford is a prick.
Yeah, you're a bad person. Well done for saying shitty things.
I'd be more afraid of going to Japan if I unironically posted this in 2017
Well, there were those rumors that Sega has actually Yakuza ties...
LMAO I know Sega got ties to Yakuza, are they on his head for real?
He owns the company. He'd would sooner burn it down then give it up
Randy "I watched it for the magic" Pitchford debuts his new trick: "disappearing" corporate funds.
Wouldnt you disappear a man who stole millions of dollars from you?
I still don't think I understand the crime here. If the money was the company's and the company's was Randy's entirely, doesn't that make it his money? If you take money from a publicly traded company the logic is that you're stealing from the shareholders - the owners of the company - but there are no shareholders here. I'm not sure how embezzlement in particular is even possible.
Now, it's been a while since I read about this, but I can imagine other issues that might come up from Randy taking the company's money. Like, if he doesn't pay his employees the salary he owes, or had some contractual obligation to use the money in a particular way, or if the money wasn't actually his and he was just holding it. Something of that nature. But I'd think there would be different terms in those cases.
Now, it's been a while since I read about this, but I can imagine other issues that might come up from Randy taking the company's money. Like, if he doesn't pay his employees the salary he owes, or had some contractual obligation to use the money in a particular way, or if the money wasn't actually his and he was just holding it. Something of that nature. But I'd think there would be different terms in those cases.
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If the money was paid to the Gearbox corporate entity by a publisher for them to develop a game on behalf of that publisher and those funds end up somewhere else (like a personal LLC), then that's the very definition of embezzlement.
So Sega's money was held in trust by Gearbox, and that's the money that Randy placed elsewhere?
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This isn't actually related to the Colonial Marines debacle -- this is entirely related to payments from 2K for Borderlands 3.
Okay, either way - I presume that Gearbox is also expected to be paid for making the game, and that 2K would be doing that as well. Would that then be separate from the money that was embezzled?
If he could make himself disappear, I'd finally give him credit as a magician for performing the best trick of all time.
The money paid was was "recoupable bonus", which means it's paid in advance (in this case, at the 3 milestones laid out) but ultimately is taken out of the royalties money that 2K was paying Gearbox for Borderlands.
Let's say Borderlands 3 bombs hard, and Gearbox's share of the first round of royalty payments for Borderlands 3 comes out to $8m. If that happens, then the $8m Gearbox was supposed to get paid gets pocketed by 2K, who records that a little more than half of the money they already paid out to Pitchford and the CFO is now settled. If the second payment 2K owes Gearbox is also $8m, then this time Gearbox will get some money, in the form of $1m, because 2K got to recoup the remaining $7m of the payments to Pitchford and the CFO and then only has to pay out money above that threshold.
Basically, what happened here is that Pitchford and the CFO took the first $15m of the money 2K was going to pay Gearbox for Borderlands 3 for themselves. The money owed to the company doesn't start accruing until the figure reaches $15m plus a dollar.
EDIT: Just re-read your post again, and missed it slightly. Gearbox gets some sort of money for development costs, but ultimately is going to be making money from royalty payments on the game after release. Pitchford and the CFO took money upfront that's getting pulled out of those royalty payments.
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Thanks a lot for this, but I'm still not sure I'm totally confident I'm understanding it properly.
So the value of the payment that 2K owes to Gearbox is variable based on performance milestones. Alright, that's not unusual. Gearbox (Randy) receives the payment, but before it's actually earned, at which point they're now holding money that still belongs to 2K. So Randy shifted that money to a separate account while it's still only in Gearbox's holding, at which point it becomes embezzlement because he's converting it to his money instead of 2K money that he simply has been given control over?
If that's the case, would it have been possible for Randy to have safely received the money and moved it to the same place after Borderlands 3 (or whatever specific title is the subject of the lawsuit)'s performance had hit the particular targets and the money had been thereby earned by Gearbox?
Additionally, at any point, did he have control over 2K money beyond what the absolute minimum that would be expected to be earned if the project was completed? If so, what would be the purpose of allowing that if it opens up the risk that more money would be spent than ultimately earned?
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I assume it was conditional money that had to be used for specific circumstances.
Randy posted a links to Battleborn porn as a way to promote his game since it was failing.
