David Eddings, former voice actor of Claptrap in the Borderlands series, has gone into further detail about what transpired between him and Randy Pitchford in a new interview.
David Eddings, the former voice actor for Claptrap in the Borderlands series, has used an interview with Newsweek to go into further detail about what happened between him and Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford. In the interview, Eddings talks about incidents of bullying, harassment, and a physical assault. He also details how he was fired one day after refusing to reveal the source of some information he had learned about the potential sale of Gearbox.
Eddings originally began working at Gearbox in 2004, and for a time he got on well with Pitchford as the two shared a birthday, something which seemed to endear him to Pitchford somewhat. Eddings describes how childish pranks by Pitchford would eventually wear him down, and put a strain on their relationship.
Things finally came to a head at GDC 2017, at the Marriot Marquis hotel. On the Thursday of the convention, Eddings says two different people approached him about a man called Greg Richardson, who was trying to get a price on Gearbox. Eddings, the VP of business at the time, didn’t know anything about a potential sale, or even about someone being interested in buying the company. Eddings went to Pitchford to inform him about what he had heard, and Pitchford denied the possibility, asking who had told Eddings.
While Eddings may not have know who Richardson was, the details of a lawsuit from former Gearbox general counsel Wade Callendar indicates that Pitchford may well have been aware of him at the time. Eddings didn’t want to give up his sources, and at this point, it is alleged that Pitchford became angry, and shoved him. The shove was witnessed by Gearbox co-founder Landon Montgomery, who says, “David leaned up to whisper something to Randy and out of the blue, Randy shoves him, hard”. Another witness, Mario Kroll, says that while he was not there to see the shove itself, he was there before and after the incident, but was called away to speak with a client when it happened. He did, however, state the Pitchford became “visibly angry” before he left, and when he returned, Eddings was “noticeably upset”.
The Newsweek article then goes on to detail (with pictures) messages between Eddings and Pitchford, where Pitchford demanded to know who the sources were and accused Eddings of not being loyal to the company. On March 6, the Monday directly after GDC, Eddings had a meeting with Pitchford at the Gearbox Studios office and was then fired the next day when he still refused to give the names of the people who had approached him.
Eddings still maintains that he is happy to put it all behind him, and even return to the series if Pitchford is willing to make an apology for the incident that occurred between them.
Gearbox issued a statement about the story to Newsweek, but it mostly falls into the “we don’t comment on legal matters” category.
Gearbox takes any and all claims of this nature very seriously and we will abstain from commenting on the allegations Dave is making because it is a personnel matter. We think it’s a shame that the 400+ employees here who have poured the love and passion into Borderlands 3 are having their work be diluted by personal allegations.
I imagine this still isn’t the last we have heard about this story, so we will keep you updated with any more news as it breaks.
