Sources: Despite Huge Sales, Borderlands 3 Developers Are Getting Stiffed On
Bonuses
https://tinyurl.com/u65ycrd
The video game Borderlands 3 was a big sales success when it launched last
fall, according to its publisher, 2K, which described it as “a
billion-dollar global brand.” That’s why it was shocking to employees at
Gearbox, the developer of the game, when the studio’s CEO, Randy Pitchford,
told them yesterday that they would not receive the significant royalty
bonuses they expected.
Employees at the studio will get small bonus checks, but nothing close to the
tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands that many had expected. This
account is based on conversations with six people close to Gearbox, all
speaking anonymously because they were not authorized to talk about what
happened. Some said it was crushing news that has upended their financial
plans for the future.
Gearbox, based in Frisco, Texas, offers its employees below-average salaries
for the video game industry, according to more than a dozen current and
former Gearbox staff who have spoken to Kotaku over the years. To make up for
that, the studio offers something unique: profit-sharing. Royalties from all
of the developer’s games are split 60/40, with 60% going back into the
company (and its owners) while 40% is distributed to employees in the form of
quarterly bonuses. This system has been in place since Gearbox’s inception,
and when the company has big hits, it can be lucrative. When 2012's massive
Borderlands 2 came out, many Gearbox workers made enough money to buy houses—
a fact that the studio often touted while recruiting new employees.
Since then, however, Gearbox has been struggling, failing to find much
financial success with flops like Aliens: Colonial Marines (2013) and
Battleborn (2016). As a result, quarterly bonuses have been smaller in recent
years. In 2020, that was supposed to change. Several Gearbox employees told
Kotaku that company management promised them six-figure bonuses following the
launch of Borderlands 3. The more years they’d been with the company, the
larger the check. This vision of financial success helped Gearbox’s
developers get through many long nights and weekends working on the game.
Then, in a meeting yesterday, Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford told employees
that Borderlands 3 bonus checks would be significantly lower than they hoped,
according to three people who were present. He said the game had been more
expensive than expected, the company had grown significantly larger than it
had been in the past (it now operates a second studio in Quebec, Canada), and
that their sales projections had been off-base.
The game had sold very well—“We expect lifetime unit sales to be a record
for the series,” said Strauss Zelnick, CEO of 2K parent company Take-Two, on
an earnings call in February—but it cost way too much to make. One large
factor was a technology swap midway through development, from the Unreal
Engine 3 to Unreal Engine 4, which added a great deal of time to the project.
In addition, before Gearbox could receive any royalties from publisher 2K,
Borderlands 3 would have to recoup not just the game’s entire budget (around
$95 million) but also the budget for all of the downloadable content (for a
sum closer to $140 million), thanks to a contract that the two companies had
signed.
Pitchford also told Gearbox developers that if they weren’t happy with the
royalty system, they were welcome to quit, according to those who were in the
meeting. He did not attribute the diminished bonuses to the coronavirus
pandemic, which has led to economic uncertainty and pay cuts in many other
fields. He did say that he hoped to get more money to employees as an advance
from 2K on future royalties.
When asked for comment, Gearbox sent over the following statement:
Borderlands 3 represents an incredible value to gamers and an incredible
achievement by the team at Gearbox Software. Our studio is talent-led and we
believe strongly in everyone sharing in profitability. The talent at Gearbox
enjoys participation in the upside of our games – to our knowledge, the most
generous royalty bonus system in AAA. Since this program began, Gearbox
talent has earned over $100M in royalty bonuses above and beyond traditional
compensation.
In the most recent pay period Gearbox talent enjoyed news that Borderlands 3,
having earned revenue exceeding the largest investment ever made by the
company into a single video game, had officially become a profitable video
game and the talent at Gearbox that participates in the royalty bonus system
has now earned their first royalty bonus on that profit. Additionally, a
forecast update was given to the talent at Gearbox that participates in the
royalty bonus to set expectations for the coming quarters. Gearbox is a
private company that does not issue forward looking statements to the public,
but we do practice transparency within our own family.
Last year, former Gearbox lawyer Wade Callender became entangled in an ugly
set of lawsuits with the studio. In one suit, he alleged that Pitchford had
taken a $12 million bonus in 2016, when development started on Borderlands 3.
The bonus did exist, according to two people with knowledge of what happened,
but it came out of the company’s 60%, not the 40% of profits that were meant
to go to employees.
Still, yesterday’s news combined with word of Pitchford’s hefty bonus has
upset a number of Gearbox employees, some of whom say they expect an exodus
in the near future. Those who made financial plans based on the expectations
set by the company’s management may now find themselves in tough spots.
Gearbox, which is privately owned, has been seeking to go public, according
to two people familiar with the company’s plans. It remains to be seen how
this news will impact that.
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Gearbox 这间公司的薪水比其它开发商差，但公司为鼓励员工有个机制是游戏的利润分红
。就是60%/40%，60%收入归公司，40%收入做为开发团队的分红给开发团队的员工。
当初边缘禁地2大红时，开发团队的人分红到的钱都够买间房子了。这事也是Gerabox 招人
时会拿来吹嘘的事。
但后来Gearbox的情况不佳，而现在边缘禁地3也大卖了。但Gearbox的老板却跟开发团队的
人说了各种理由，像游戏成本比预期高，公司在扩张中，销售计划预测错了。所以分红没
法给太多......
如果你们对分红不满可以辞职。
然后员工们就不爽啦！所以就有这篇新闻啦！

去跟你们老板讲

看合约有没有写啊 没写就乖乖吞下去

所以公司情况不佳时员工有没有共体时艰,减薪一下

他们薪水本就低于同行 是靠分红来撑的

你们要自立自强啊

这篇后面也有提到有员工表示不久后要走人

你们要自己跟老板讲啊

所以到底有没有大卖

有个说法是大卖了 但卖的不如预期好

跟台湾科技业蛮像的

该不会是给EPIC独占半年造成的？

没吧 Epic给的很多耶

求小英图片支援XDD算了，好像会触板规，还是别支援好

分红这种东西,很多公司都会想动手脚,因为很不想发他的边缘禁地3是指EPIC大卖还是加上STEAM的量不知道国外这种合约都怎么写,台湾大概就是依公司营运光是这五个字你就拿他没皮条

他的大卖是用发行商2K的数据

有跟老板讲了，只是老板gay笑才出来找记者。

独占结束后应该更惨 PS4上已经在跳水卖了

独占不早结束了？之前Steam上有BL3的广告。

所以就说啦～说个笑话，EPIC能帮助开发者

这和epic有没有帮助开发者一点关系都没有吧，明明就是惯老板不想分钱的关系笑也笑对原因好吗XD

好险我没玩

举例来说就像某车厂和政府哭穷拿了补助但又死不降车价

会做出独占这种渣决策的游戏商，本身就没有未来

你笑话笑错地方了啊 钱给了 老板不分 结果怪EPIC

也不是独占的问题，市面上许多知名游戏也是独占重点就是惯老板吃屎啦干

蓝迪讲赚得不如预期不知道从何评估

epic money咧？

赚得不如预期也是公司很爱拿出来讲的大绝之一员工只能赌烂也不能干嘛

如果老板跟负责销售计划的拿没开发多是能体谅，但通常...

你们劳工要自立自强啊

不过基于bonus上做经济规划也是有虾 叫bonus是有原因的

如果所谓的大卖只是公关说的好听话 实际上没有大卖 就可以解释这个矛盾了....

如果是这样员工就不会抱怨了 毕竟他们知道没赚钱难道员工也是看报纸才知道游戏大卖吗

bug不修好还想拿钱啊