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"

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"BAM, Vince would troll him again"

Borderlands 4 trailer screenshot of Rafa around a bonfire
(Image credit: Gearbox)

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."

"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."

Austin Wood
Austin Wood
Senior writer

Austin has been a game journalist for 12 years, having freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree. He's been with GamesRadar+ since 2019. They've yet to realize his position is a cover for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a lot of news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.

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