Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford predicted that the Epic Games Store would kill off Steam 5 years ago, now the internet is mocking him as Borderlands 4 comes crawling back

Honestly? You'd almost feel bad for Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford. Not only has he been posting through it after the Borderlands movie crashed and burnt, now he's got everyone making fun of him for an ill-judged prediction he made five years ago: That the Epic Games Store's resources and willingness to invest them could have Steam looking like a "dying store" by now.

And then, well, Borderlands came crawlin' back to Steam. Five years after Borderlands 3 was announced as an (initial) Epic Games Store exclusive, Borderlands 4 made its debut announcement at last night's Gamescom Opening Night Live event. It's coming to Epic, sure, but it's no exclusive this time. You'll be able to pick the game up on day one on Steam if that's your store of choice.

Cue the internet digging up Pitchford's 2019 tweetstorm about the Epic Store's bright and sunny future compared to Steam. «From a track record point of view, my expectation is that Epic’s investment in technology will outpace Valve’s substantially,» wrote Pitchford back in April of that year, «When we look back at Steam in five or ten years, it may look like a dying store and other, competitive stores, will be the place to be.» A little later on, he wrote that «if I were to bet on this (and remember I’ve got a pretty good seat with a great view of this competition), Epic will inevitably surpass Valve on features and quality of service.»

From a track record point of view, my expectation is that Epic’s investment in technology will outpace Valve’s substantially. When we look back at Steam in five or ten years, it may look like a dying store and other, competitive stores, will be the place to be.April 13, 2019

Which, ah, has not quite borne out in the last half-decade. Steam is perhaps more dominant than ever and the internet at large is—for reasons both reasonable and unreasonable—intensely hostile to the idea of switching their storefront of choice from Steam to Epic (or any other launcher). 

Onlookers have been keen to point