Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford says late FPS icon Vince Zampella would "create mischievous joy" – like "trolling" Eli Roth in Borderlands during a pre-movie "tour"

Following games industry leaders who paid tribute to Call of Duty lead, Battlefield boss, and Respawn co-founder Vince Zampella after his death in December, Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford has shared an anecdote demonstrating the "mischievous joy" Zampella brought to games – in this case, to the misfortune of Borderlands movie director Eli Roth.

"Can't stop thinking about Vince," Pitchford said on Twitter Monday. Reminded by his wife Kristy, Pitchford recalled the story of Roth's tour of the Borderlands games, with Zampella and Kristy "playing tour guide."

"Vince was trolling," Pitchford said of Roth's tour. "He would wait until Eli stood too close to a barrel or something and he would detonate it to send Eli into Second Wind [downed state]. Confusion and panic would set in as Kristy helped Eli recover from the situation. Then he would lay off and just when Eli would let his guard down, BAM, Vince would troll him again.

"Kristy was getting wound up – she was sincerely working hard to give Eli a great walkthrough of the game. Feeling Kristy being distraught at Eli's confusion each time he got knocked down it occurred to me that Vince was trolling Kristy much more than he was trolling Eli. Vince would create mischievous joy like that. He was awesome. It sucks he's gone."

Zampella died in a single-car accident in Los Angeles on December 21. You'd be hard-pressed to find a modern FPS that wasn't influenced by his work in some way, major or minor. He was key among the franchise leadership team behind Battlefield 6, which reversed the series' fortunes and outshined Call of Duty in 2025.

In October, Zampella said "The only reason that CoD exists is because EA were dicks."