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Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford reckons the games industry still hasn't kicked into high gear yet despite how much work went into Borderlands 4.
Citizen Kane is often used as the shorthand for "the best thing in a given medium" and while that may not exactly be truthful in Citizen Kane's case when the likes of 12 Angry Men, Harakiri, and The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie exist, but "the Citizen Kane of X" is a common phrase. And while some argue the Citizen Kane of games may be something like Ocarina of Time, Metal Gear Solid, Chrono Trigger, or Super Mario 64, Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford reckons games still haven't had a Citizen Kane
In the Shacknews documentary 24 'Til Launch: The Making of Borderlands 4, Pitchford spoke about the process of creating games, and how in the modern era, it's become riskier, and requires everyone to give it their all. "The budgets of our big video games now are larger than the budgets of blockbuster movies. You can't easily make that decision to commit those kinds of resources towards a thing" Pitchford said, adding "It can only happen if everybody in that loop believes that what is being imagined has more value to exist in the world than what it takes to to create it, which means you both need the idea of what it takes to create it, the belief in what it takes to create it, and a sense of what it might be worth if it was created."
However despite the gaming industry being a powerhouse, and gaming budgets rivalling films, Pitchford says "I love that we're just getting started," in reference to the entire games industry. He adds "we haven't even had our Citizen Kane yet, let alone Jurassic Park or Star Wars. We're just figuring this shit out. But it's fun."
The first feature film is typically agreed to be 1906's "The Story of the Kelly Gang" and Citizen Kane came out 35 years later in 1941, meanwhile 1958's Tennis for Two Is considered to be the first computer game, with 35 years later being 1993, which just so happened to be the year Daytona USA first appeared in Japanese arcades, affirming my long-time belief that Daytona USA is the Citizen Kane of games.
