Randy Pitchford

Randy Pitchford is an American businessman. He co-founded video game development studio Gearbox Software in 1999 and was president and CEO for the company. Pitchford began his career at 3D Realms in Texas working on games such as Duke Nukem 3D and Shadow Warrior. A group of 3D Realms developers and programmers left the company to form Rebel Boat Rocker around 1997, and Pitchford joined them in May 1997. The company's first game was to be the first-person shooter Prax War to be published by Electronic Arts (EA). Pitchford served as the lead level designer as well as the public relations head. However, EA opted to cancel the game around January 1999. With no publisher-backed project, Pitchford joined four other Rebel Boat Rockers, some his former 3D Realms colleagues, to found Gearbox Software in February 1999. Overall, Pitchford's credited titles have sold more than 100 million copies. Games he has overseen at Gearbox have included Borderlands, Bulletstorm, and Borderlands 3.