Saber CEO Matt Karch has belatedly weighed in on Borderlands 4 developer Gearbox taking shots at Embracer, a company that used to own both studios. According to Karch, "without Embracer, Randy is performing magic tricks at birthday parties for a living."
A few weeks ago, Saber published a new trailer for its Crazy Taxi riff Rideshare Simulator. At first, there are few things that really catch the eye. The narrator – and our car driver – mentions coming across some odd folk in his line of work, like someone going to a medieval feast, an older chap who reckons his grandson is a failure, and someone who has been banned from the aquarium.
And then, our narrator says, "when I think I’ve met the randiest of passengers, someone even stranger gets in." A bit of a weird thing to say, but then the license plate of the car comes into view: "USB DRV."
Ah, we're taking a shot at Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford, then. Just to really drive the point home, we also see a cogwheel between the two words on the Texas-based license plate.
It's hard to say if the passengers themselves are a jab at Pitchford, though the overall intent is fairly clear. GameFile also reached out to Saber to make sure, and CEO Matt Karch has the following to say:
"The dig is because Randy took shots at Embracer in Borderlands 4. Without Embracer, Randy is performing magic tricks at birthday parties for a living."
Some explanation is in order, I suppose. The 'USB' reference relates to a past legal episode involving Randy Pitchford and, you guessed it, a USB stick he left at a Medieval Times restaurant. You can search the internet to find out what was on the drive, if you really want to. As per The Hollywood Reporter, the various legal matters related to the USB were settled in late 2019, and Pitchford was "exonerated."
So why is Saber taking issue with something Gearbox said about Embracer? Essentially, both developers were owned by Embracer at one point, and, according to GameFile, Karch wasn't impressed with Pitchford at all.
Eventually, both studios would split with Embracer. Saber was bought out by a group of investors that was led by Karch, and Gearbox went to long-time Borderlands publisher Take-Two. It was a messy time for Embracer, which either parted ways with many of the studios it had acquired or shut them down entirely, resulting in hundreds of layoffs. It also earned Embracer an unwelcome reputation, which various company leaders have addressed several times.
As for Gearbox, Randy Pitchford would later say that Borderlands 4's story was partly inspired by its relationship with Embracer and the change in ownership. "There’s this cultural and emotional shift in me, personally, and at the studio," he said at the time. "What does it mean to trade some autonomy for organization?"
And then there are Borderlands 4's in-game jabs that Karch notes. Fairly early into your playthrough, you'll come across a location called Embracer's Bluff, which features a rundown town ruled by a king in a hot tub and a talking AI hot tub. Hm, I wonder what that's all about.
As we now know, though, Saber wasn't impressed at all.
