The dispute between former Claptrap voice actor David Eddings and Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford has reached a new low as Eddings reveals that he was physically assaulted by Pitchford back in 2017.
During last week’s Borderlands 3 gameplay reveal, we learned that Claptrap--the beloved robot mascot of the franchise--would no longer be voiced by David Eddings. Eddings had been the voice of Claptrap since the series’ inception while he was working as a marketing executive at Gearbox.
Eddings left the studio in 2017 under unknown circumstances to work at Rooster Teeth Productions, but now we might have just been given our first clue as to what may have pushed him away.
In an ongoing and highly public dispute over Eddings’ departure as Claptrap, Eddings initially said that he was not offered payment to reprise his role as the little yellow robot, while Pitchford countered by saying he was offered twice the union pay scale.
Now, Eddings has once again responded on Twitter to say that he would have performed as Claptrap “for ‘free’ in exchange for past royalties” along with an apology for an alleged assault that took place in the lobby of the Marriott Marquis at the 2017 Game Developers Conference.
We don’t know the exact nature of the altercation, but the timing of the assault does line up with Edding’s departure from Gearbox.
Eddings went on to once again mention an ongoing legal dispute where Pitchford is accused of siphoning away a $12 million bonus from Gearbox employees during a period in which Gearbox enforced a wage freeze in favor of royalty shares. Those royalty shares are apparently still being withheld from Eddings following his departure.
The lawsuit by Gearbox’s former legal counsel also mentions a USB stick left in a Medieval Times that also contained sensitive corporate materials and explicit video files of underage women.
There hasn’t been any response from Pitchford as of yet, and perhaps that’s for the best. This ongoing firefight is taking away from coverage on Borderlands 3, which is set to become the biggest and best looter shooter of the entire franchise.