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Former Gearbox lawyer claims Randy Pitchford was paid $12 million secret bonus

Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford finds himself in a couple of lawsuits with the company's former general counsel, and some of the allegations are shocking. Gearbox plans on defending their CEO in court, calling the claims "absurd."

Asif Khan

January 11, 2019 6:10 PM

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Former Gearbox General Counsel Wade Callender and CEO Randy Pitchford are suing each other. A number of allegations are made by Callender in the lawsuit, including a claim that Pitchford received a secret $12 million bonus from Borderlands publisher Take-Two Interactive. This alleged bonus was an advance on future earnings from the game. 

A Gearbox spokesman told Kotaku that “The allegations made by a disgruntled former employee are absurd, with no basis in reality or law,” adding “we look forward to addressing this meritless lawsuit in court and have no further comment at this time.”

Gearbox later made this additional statement:

Gearbox will be filing a grievance with the State Bar of Texas against our former general counsel Wade for disciplinary proceedings for filing a lawsuit that includes accusations that he knows to be untrue. The lawyer’s rules of professional conduct expressly prohibit the filing of documents that are knowingly false. The tell is within Wade’s claim itself – his use of hedged lawyer language and clever application of quotation marks betray that he knows that the impression he is trying to create is based in lies. We imagine that he used the quotation marks and lawyer language in hopes that will give him some angles of defense when we inevitably take action against him for false statements. Wade is engaged in a shakedown and he’s clearly using deceit and lies to try to cause damage by promoting a narrative that he knows is false.

Here's the entire lawsuit Gearbox is bringing against Callender:

Gearbox suit against Callender by on Scribd

Here's the entire lawsuit Callender is bringing against Randy Pitchford and Gearbox:

Gearbox lawsuit by on Scribd

Wade Callender describes alleged "peacock parties" during which men would expose themselves to underage children to the amusement of Randy Pitchford." Gearbox denies the existence of any such parties, stating that Callender's claims were "made up by Wade in a further attempt to paint a sensational picture that is demonstrably false.”

Callender also claims that Pitchford lost a USB key containing child pornography along with data from video game partners in 2014. This is a serious accusation, and one that Pitchford apparently addressed on a magic podcast last year. "It’s a woman who is masturbating,” Pitchford said, “and when she has some experience that appears as if she’s having an orgasm, a huge amount of fluid comes out of her vagina.”

“This is not a sex worker—this is a fucking magician,” Pitchford continued. “Some kid, an employee of the Medieval Times, discovered this memory stick, took it home, and accessed it because it was before we were password-protecting, and discovered secrets of my company and future games in development, and also discovered the pornography. And it was barely legal porn. This girl’s handle was ‘Only 18.’”

These matters will be settled in court but in a very vague tweet, former VP of Gearbox Dave Eddings simply said, "Yes, it's true."

Yes, it's true.

— David Eddings (@davideddings) January 11, 2019

Gearbox's CEO took to Twitter to publicly address his fans and critics:

The attacks made by my former friend and colleague have no basis in reality or law. He is simply trying to shake me down for money. We will win, but because lawsuits are pending I can’t comment as much as I’d like. I am shocked by his lies. Thanks for your love and support.

— Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) January 11, 2019

As a father, I find crimes against children to be especially repugnant. It is very painful that a former friend and colleague would lie to try to associate me with such vile behavior in his own greedy pursuit of money.

— Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) January 11, 2019

As the day progresses, I am discovering who my my friends are. Thank you for your love and support. I am just going to try to focus on my work and trust that truth and justice will prevail with the courts.

— Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) January 11, 2019

It remains to be seen what evidence Callender will present when these matters are settled in court, but today's news is not good for Gearbox and their CEO. This could either be a case of a disgruntled former employee (he did work on Aliens: Colonial Marines) or it could be something much more sinister that involves serious accusations. Only time will tell if Gearbox and Randy Pitchford are able to clear their names from these claims by their former general counsel.

Asif Khan

CEO/EIC/EIEIO

Asif Khan is the CEO, EIC, and majority shareholder of Shacknews. He began his career in video game journalism as a freelancer in 2001 for Tendobox.com. Asif is a CPA and was formerly an investment adviser representative. After much success in his own personal investments, he retired from his day job in financial services and is currently focused on new private investments. His favorite PC game of all time is Duke Nukem 3D, and he is an unapologetic fan of most things Nintendo. Asif first frequented the Shack when it was sCary's Shugashack to find all things Quake. When he is not immersed in investments or gaming he is a purveyor of fine electronic music. Asif also has an irrational love of Cleveland sports.