Gearbox immortalizes fallen Borderlands fan with Claptrap message and sequel role

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Late gamer to be remembered with an NPC cameo in Borderlands 2

You probably don't know the late Borderlands fan Michael John Mamaril, but thanks to Gearbox Software, his is a name destined to become part of Pandora lore. This October, Michael lost his life to cancer at the absurdly young age of 22, motivating his friend Carlo to approach the Gearbox team for help in honoring his memory with a personalized eulogy from the game's sassy robotic mascot, Claptrap. The studio agreed; and then did him one better. Brace yourself: this could get emotional.

Shortly after Carlo emailed Gearbox, he received a touching audio response and a promise from developers that Michael will be included as an NPC in Borderlands 2. For obvious reasons, we don't yet know the latter will look like, but thanks to Carlo's willingness to share his story with Destructoid, we can listen in on one of the most heartbreaking/uplifting developer messages in recent memory:

It's all to easy to let knee-jerk cynacism and snark dominate the conversation when it comes to video games. Let this be proof, then, that both developers and players share a deeper connection and passion for the industry than we sometimes give them credit for.

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Matt Bradford

Matt Bradford wrote news and features here at GamesRadar+ until 2016. Since then he's gone on to work with the Guinness World Records, acting as writer and researcher for the annual Gamer's Edition series of books, and has worked as an editor, technical writer, and voice actor. Matt is now a freelance journalist and editor, generating copy across a multitude of industries.