The Claptrap voice actor saga continues as David Eddings alleges Randy Pitchford assaulted him in a hotel lobby more than two years ago at GDC 2017 — and that’s far from the only accusation from the former Gearbox employee. After Eddings stated that Gearbox “couldn’t afford him,” Pitchford responded publicly and called him “bitter and disgruntled.” Now, David Eddings has elected to fire back in this ongoing saga surrounding Gearbox and Borderlands 3.
“I was fine moving on after Gearbox,” the original Claptrap voice actor said on Twitter. “But when my former boss starts mouthing off about various aspects of my employment including ‘how highly compensated’ I was and how ‘generous’ he is, I feel obligated to correct the record.”
David Eddings continued to explain that he would have been willing to take on the role of Claptrap in Borderlands 3 as long as past royalties owed to him were paid; he then alleged that Randy Pitchford assaulted him in the lobby of the Marriot Marquis at GDC 2017 and demanded an apology.
I ultimately offered to do it for “free” in exchange for past royalties owed plus an apology for something I’ve never spoken about publicly until now: Randy physically assaulted me in the lobby of the Marriott Marquis at GDC 2017.
— David Eddings (@davideddings) May 7, 2019
Aside from the allegation that Randy Pitchford assaulted him, David Eddings also brought up “the $12M of revenue [Randy Pitchford] siphoned away from the employee royalty pool.” This specific number is referring to a lawsuit that Gearbox Software is currently contesting.
Employees at Gearbox reportedly receive a lower salary in exchange for royalty payments from sales of the games; Mr. Pitchford is alleged to have misappropriated money from this royalty fund to the tune of $12 million.
Unfortunately, this whole Claptrap voice actor debacle is going to be difficult to unravel. “2K says they won’t give a statement regarding an ongoing lawsuit but if the allegation is false then it sure seems a lot easier to just deny it since that’s the only reason they’re mentioned,” Eddings concluded. “The whole thing stinks.”
