Gearbox: Publishers are a blessing

We’re all too used to developers bemoaning the conditions under which publishing partnerships are formed, but Gearbox chief Randy Pitchford has bucked the trend by literally saying he’d rather die than worry about the logistics of games retail.

Publishers are a blessing to me,” Pitchford told MCV in an interview at DICE. The last thing in the world I want to do is spend my time thinking about how to get boxes on trucks and send them to stores.

I don’t want to deal with manufacturing, I don’t want to deal with sales, I didn’t get in the business to do those kinds of things. I want to create and I’m thankful that there are publishers who like doing that and who are efficient. I’m grateful that there are people who are inspired by that stuff. I’d hang myself if that was my job.”

But Pitchford wasn’t done romanticising.

It’s a partnership, like a marriage,” he enthused. We choose each other and there is a constant dating process. That’s part of what happens here at DICE, an infinite moshpit of courtship. It’s amazing how much business gets done here. Maybe deals aren’t closed but there’s a lot of relationship management going on. It’s like speed-dating.”

Check back to the site on Monday for the full interview.