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 這間公司的薪水比其它開發商差，但公司為鼓勵員工有個機制是遊戲的利潤分紅
。就是60%/40%，60%收入歸公司，40%收入做為開發團隊的分紅給開發團隊的員工。
當初邊緣禁地2大紅時，開發團隊的人分紅到的錢都夠買間房子了。這事也是Gerabox 招人
時會拿來吹噓的事。
但後來Gearbox的情況不佳，而現在邊緣禁地3也大賣了。但Gearbox的老闆卻跟開發團隊的
人說了各種理由，像遊戲成本比預期高，公司在擴張中，銷售計劃預測錯了。所以分紅沒
法給太多......
如果你們對分紅不滿可以辭職。
然後員工們就不爽啦！所以就有這篇新聞啦！

去跟你們老闆講

看合約有沒有寫啊 沒寫就乖乖吞下去

所以公司情況不佳時員工有沒有共體時艱,減薪一下

他們薪水本就低於同行 是靠分紅來撐的

你們要自立自強啊

這篇後面也有提到有員工表示不久後要走人

你們要自己跟老闆講啊

所以到底有沒有大賣

有個說法是大賣了 但賣的不如預期好

跟台灣科技業蠻像的

該不會是給EPIC獨佔半年造成的？

沒吧 Epic給的很多耶

求小英圖片支援XDD算了，好像會觸板規，還是別支援好

分紅這種東西,很多公司都會想動手腳,因為很不想發他的邊緣禁地3是指EPIC大賣還是加上STEAM的量不知道國外這種合約都怎麼寫,台灣大概就是依公司營運光是這五個字你就拿他沒皮條

他的大賣是用發行商2K的數據

有跟老闆講了，只是老闆gay笑才出來找記者。

獨佔結束後應該更慘 PS4上已經在跳水賣了

獨佔不早結束了？之前Steam上有BL3的廣告。

所以就說啦～說個笑話，EPIC能幫助開發者

這和epic有沒有幫助開發者一點關係都沒有吧，明明就是慣老闆不想分錢的關係笑也笑對原因好嗎XD

好險我沒玩

舉例來說就像某車廠和政府哭窮拿了補助但又死不降車價

會做出獨佔這種渣決策的遊戲商，本身就沒有未來

你笑話笑錯地方了啊 錢給了 老闆不分 結果怪EPIC

也不是獨佔的問題，市面上許多知名遊戲也是獨佔重點就是慣老闆吃屎啦幹

藍迪講賺得不如預期不知道從何評估

epic money咧？

賺得不如預期也是公司很愛拿出來講的大絕之一員工只能賭爛也不能幹嘛

如果老闆跟負責銷售計劃的拿沒開發多是能體諒，但通常...

你們勞工要自立自強啊

不過基於bonus上做經濟規劃也是有蝦 叫bonus是有原因的

如果所謂的大賣只是公關說的好聽話 實際上沒有大賣 就可以解釋這個矛盾了....

如果是這樣員工就不會抱怨了 畢竟他們知道沒賺錢難道員工也是看報紙才知道遊戲大賣嗎

bug不修好還想拿錢啊