Why Borderlands 3 Wont Have the Real Claptrap

While we’re all anxiously awaiting the third entry in Gearbox’s hit “Borderlands” series – which drops on September 13th of this year – some news came out recently that dampens a bit of our excitement. Two major voice actors synonymous with the Borderlands series will not be returning, with one of them also leveling some serious accusations towards Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford. Here’s what we know so far. On May 2nd 2019, David Eddings, the man who voiced Claptrap in the “Borderlands” games and Telltale’s “Tales From the Borderlands,” revealed on Twitter that he wouldn’t be back in the role of the loudmouthed robot due to a monetary dispute with Gearbox. This information came off the heels of some other unfortunate news that Rhys, first introduced in “Tales From the Borderlands” would not be played by Troy Baker either, despite wanting to reprise the role. Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford tried to counter both narratives on Twitter, but seeing as he’s currently involved in a public lawsuit that calls his leadership into question with allegations of contract violations and payoffs, it’s not going very well for him in the court of public opinion. And, what’s more concerning about the recent Eddings/Pitchford dustup is that the Gearbox CEO could have another lawsuit on his hands if he’s not careful. When Eddings revealed he wouldn’t be voicing Claptrap because of a pay dispute with Gearbox – he also hinting that he wasn’t paid for his past voice-acting work in the “Borderlands” series. The fact that he wasn’t paid for voicing Claptrap seems outrageous to some, but Eddings was already a long-time employee of Gearbox – an executive, actually – and he agreed to voice the character for no extra pay because he enjoyed the role. Naturally, once fans learned the financial details of Eddings’ work as Claptrap, they tweeted Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford and snarkily questioned his company’s way of doing business. As Pitchford had done with the Troy Baker drama, he immediately denied the claims, stating that Eddings was offered two-times scale to reprise his role, and that while working as an executive for Gearbox he was “paid very handsomely,” implying that Eddings shouldn’t be complaining. When further pressed about the issue, Pitchford said that Eddings was actually just “bitter and disgruntled” about being fired in 2017. With another case of “he said, she said” between a former voice actor and Randy Pitchford occurring in a short timespan, Eddings took things one step further than Baker in an effort to correct Pitchford. First, he wrote a Twitter thread in which he alleged that he was assaulted by the Gearbox CEO in 2017, and then Eddings conducted an interview with “Newsweek” about the alleged assault and the current drama surrounding “Borderlands 3.” Eddings revealed that it was he who actually had misgivings about returning to voice Claptrap because of his history with Pitchford, but that he eventually wanted to reprise his role to honor long-time “Borderlands” fans. In fact, he’s offering to work for free as long as he is paid royalties for his past voice-acting work and receives a formal apology from Pitchford. But, with veteran voice actor Jim Foronda already cast in the role of Claptrap for “Borderlands 3,” don’t count on Eddings returning any time soon. This situation is now more than just a battle of words playing out on Twitter, as the assault claim has many in games media paying closer attention to the spat now – and with good reason, assault is a serious issue. In the recent “Newsweek” article, Eddings detailed the events that led up to the assault – and his subsequent firing shortly afterward – during the weekend of the 2017 Game Developers Conference. Eddings learned from two separate sources that an investor named Greg Richardson wanted to purchase Gearbox Software. Being an executive in the company and getting this news secondhand shocked Eddings, and when he brought this information to Pitchford, the CEO was reportedly very upset. Wanting to know who told him this news, Pitchford eventually lashed out and pushed Eddings when the former executive wouldn’t reveal his sources. Allegedly, Pitchford wanted any news about connections to potential investors kept quiet, and thus, when Eddings wouldn’t out his sources, Pitchford fired him for not being loyal to Gearbox. This is where things stand at the moment, as David Eddings has made his argument very clear in recent weeks, but Pitchford has chosen to remain silent thus far and instead Gearbox Software issued a statement, saying that they take matters like this very seriously and thus won’t be commenting. Where things go from here is anyone’s guess, but one thing’s for certain: though Gearbox will no doubt be celebrating the release of “Borderlands 3” this Fall, all is certainly not well within the company, and the recent string of allegations are casting a giant shadow on what should be an exciting time for the company.