A hot potato: Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford is no stranger to making controversial comments. He continued his trend of hot takes in a recent video, where he said that the video game industry still hasn't had its Citizen Kane moment (I.e., a masterpiece). He continued the movie analogy by adding that we haven't even seen something to rival Jurassic Park or Star Wars.
Speaking in the Shacknews documentary 24 'Til Launch: The Making of Borderlands 4, Pitchford talked about the massive amounts of money that go into developing big games, which have budgets that match or even exceed Hollywood blockbusters.
But despite the size of the industry and the money involved, Pitchford said "I love that we're just getting started."
"We haven't even had our Citizen Kane yet, let alone Jurassic Park or Star Wars. We're just figuring this shit out. But it's fun," the CEO added.
Orson Welles' 1941 Citizen Kane is generally regarded as one of the best, if not the best, movie ever made, which is why the name is often used to refer to the best of something in a given category.
To say that gaming has yet to have its Citizen Kane moment, or even something on the level of Jurassic Park or Star Wars, has led to plenty of debate.
Lots of people will argue that there have already been titles comparable to Citizen Kane in the 54 years since the first commercial game arrived: Half-Life 2, The Witcher 3, and Breath of the Wild, to name a few. In pure financial terms, there's Grand Theft Auto V – the most profitable entertainment product of all time, making more money than anything else in any other medium (films, music, books, etc.).
In all fairness to Pitchford, who has a history of not choosing his words carefully, it does sound like he is hyping the future of gaming rather than denigrating its past.
It's been a particularly argumentative year so far for the Gearbox boss. In May, Pitchford talked about the potential $80 price tag for Borderlands 4, claiming that "real fans" would find a way to afford that amount. Thankfully, the game stuck with a $70 price point.
Following the anger over Borderlands 4's horrendous performance at launch, Pitchford said it was "a premium game made for premium gamers," suggesting the fault lies with those lacking high-end hardware. He also told those complaining about optimization to "code your own engine and show us how it's done, please," which could be called the Citizen Kane of bad comebacks.
Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford says gaming still hasn't had its "Citizen Kane moment"
