The internet never forgets. It’s a maxim you learn time and time over again when you get caught with a foot in your mouth. In this case, Gearbox Software president Randy Pitchford found himself engaged in a conversation that was bound to end badly… especially since he was defending an employee who outed himself as partaking in unethical behavior.

So for a little context: Gearbox Software writer Anthony Burch threw himself under the bus when he stated that…

“2 BL2 DLCs I wrote got pretty good reviews from Destructoid writers who I was friends with. This has never been mentioned by #gamergate once” … “That’s fucking “corruption” as much as any of the other shit is. But, nah, I’m a guy, and so were those reviewers, so just let it be I guess” … “An entire “movement” pretends it’s interested in investigating all forms of “ethics,” then pretends “oh you just weren’t on our radar Ant””… “Yes, I wasn’t on your radar despite having 32.7k followers because your radar only hones in on women, you hypocritical fucksticks”…

“Me/Goldfarb/Linde/Destructoid/IGN/Gearbox is the most obvious “connection” chain and because we didn’t fuck anybody, you didn’t care.” … “So don’t pretend “oh wow thanks for letting us know! We just hadn’t gotten around to it” as if you weren’t busy harrassing women exclusively” … “Lead writer of BL2 gets good reviews from former workplace: (crickets)”

An image of the tweets is available here. Those tweets also prompted Destructoid to alter their disclosure policies.

The Internet Aristocrat asked Gearbox Software president Randy Pitchford how he felt about Burch’s comments, to which Pitchford replied [via Tweets]…

“I read that as him saying that people knowing each other does not necessarily result in bias. Destructoid killed us on A:CM.”

The Internet Aristocrat proceeds to state that Burch’s comments were straightforward about receiving favorable reviews from friends for Bordlands 2‘s DLC, to which Pitchford responded…

“The premise is absurd, but let’s grant it for a moment. So what? Tell me about a game you bought from a “false” review?”

A few Twitter users brought out how Forbes had pointed out how unethical some of Gearbox Software practices have been as of late, to which Pitchford goes on to discredit Erik Kain, who writes for Forbes, making a snarky comment about it being a “blog” that trades on “Forbes’ credit”.

But after more attacks were levied against Burch, Pitchford eventually fired back, first baiting someone about where they work and then calling them a coward when the person doesn’t reveal where they work, and in a series of tweets he says the following…

“How about this instead? I block you, and get the back of a brilliant, hard working talent.” … “You called one of the hardest working, funniest guys I know *lazy*. Don’t go after my team.” … “you need to get a job.” “[Anthony] lead wrote a 10m+ unit selling game. That puts him in a very rare club. When you beat that, [let me know].”

But the real meat of the conversation came from an exchange where he explains that “soaking up time” with “expensive customers” cost more than “they are worth”. No sense improvising, no sense direct quoting… you can check out the archived tweets right here or view it in the image below.

Pitchford has since deleted many of the “offending” tweets and decided to avoid further discussion of the matter.

However, he seems very confident that Borderlands: The Pre-sequel will sell quite well, noting that…

I wonder how many “expensive customers” will continue to support Pitchford and crew as the word spreads about how he really feels about his audience?

That’s not to mention that Gearbox Software still isn’t off the hook for their role in misleading customers with the advertising and promotion of Aliens: Colonial Marines, as reported by Metro.