Borderlands 2 is temporarily free on Steam and Randy Pitchford is even throwing in free loot keys, inviting even more negative reviews as Take-Two privacy policy backlash continues

Borderlands 2 is temporarily completely free to download and keep on Steam, and Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford is even throwing in some extra loot keys to sweeten the deal, but that's apparently still not enough to stop the looter shooter's ongoing review bombing.

Despite the recent good news that Borderlands 4 is releasing earlier than previously announced, there has been a lot of negativity in the fanbase lately. This follows a controversial comment made by Pitchford, who suggested that "a real fan" would buy the upcoming game even if costs $80, as well as a change to Gearbox owner Take-Two Interactive's privacy policy and terms of service, which left some players worried about the collection of their personal information.

The latter point is largely to blame for the Borderlands games on Steam getting hit with an onslaught of negative reviews – Borderlands 2, for example, still has an "overwhelmingly negative" recent rating, despite the ongoing limited-time offer.

"Borderlands 2 is FREE this weekend on Steam!" Pitchford proclaims on Twitter, sharing the offer. "Free is free, yo! Get it and check it out if you haven't played it. It's an oldie, but a goodie."

Pitchford also shares a "SHiFT code for free loot keys in Borderlands, [The Pre-Sequel], 2, 3, and Wonderlands," which unlocks three Golden Keys in the games for some loot. "Good luck, and happy looting!" he writes (the code is 96XTT-STHJJ-JJTTT-TBJT3-CBTZX if you're interested).

Have either of these gestures stopped the negativity, though? No. In fact, looking at Steam's recent reviews bar graph, the number of negative reviews was actually larger today and yesterday (when the game was first offered for free) than it's been for a full month, with complaints still focused on the aforementioned privacy policy and terms of service.

At least this time, players don't seem as annoyed about the whole "real fan" debacle as they were when Pitchford announced Tiny Tina's Wonderlands was also temporarily free, while making sure to emphasise that "real fans who may be cost sensitive" might be happy about that fact.

Borderlands 2 is free until 8 June, anyway, so if you want it, be sure to grab it while you can.

Borderlands 4 boss Randy Pitchford wants to know what makes a game bigger or better, and he's using Borderlands 2 and 3 to find out.