Gearbox founder has invested $10 million in Colonial Marines

Randy Pitchford, founder of Aliens: Colonial Marines developer Gearbox Software, revealed in a discussion on Twitter that he invested “more than ten million dollars” of his own money in developing the game.

The game had to according to Pitchford sold about three million times before he could earn his money back. Colonial Marines eventually sold 1.3 million copies and Pitchford has not been able to see any of his money back.

Aliens: Colonial Marines caused quite a stir after its release because the final game had little in common with the promotional material that was shown during E3, for example. Expectations were very high beforehand, but Colonial Marines was ultimately poorly received. The case sparked major discussions about pre-orders, marketing, and the responsibilities of publishers, developers, and gamers.

Aliens: Colonial Marines was co-developed by development studio Timegate. However, several anonymous sources have stated to Kotaku that Timegate over time was given almost full responsibility for the game and had to deliver the game under very great time pressure. Timegate has since filed for bankruptcy.

In 2013, the year the game was released, two gamers even filed a lawsuit against publisher Sega and developer Gearbox for its deceptive marketing. The two companies mutually agreed that the other was more responsible. Gearbox stated that Sega was ultimately responsible and that Gearbox should not even be involved in the lawsuit, and Sega stated that Gearbox insisted that it just go its own way when it comes to marketing the game, and therefore bear the responsibility.

Sega offered the plaintiffs $1.25 million to cover the costs of the lawsuit and to compensate consumers, but Gearbox declined. In the meantime, the judge has ruled that Sega bears the responsibility in this case and not Gearbox. In an interview with GI.biz, Pitchford calls the lawsuit “mafia extortion tactics” and argues that “market objectivity has done its job”. There is no further verdict in the lawsuit yet.