Biography

Born April 21, 1971 as Randall Steward Pitchford II, he is an American game developer, writer, director, and producer, best known as the CEO of Gearbox Software. His father worked at the United States intelligence system and when Pitchford was five, he gave him his first computer. By 11 Pitchford was able to code and was writing his first games. He studied at the University of California in Los Angeles and worked as a professional magician to support himself. His first professional job in game development was in 3D Realms, working on Duke Nukem 3D (1996) and Shadow Warrior (1997). In 1997 he left 3D Realms for Rebel Boat Rocker, where he worked on a game that was supposed to be published by Electronic Arts. When the game was canceled by EA in 1999, Pitchford and some of his friends co-founded Gearbox Software. He's been the CEO of the company ever since, overseeing projects such as Half-Life: Opposing Force (1999) and Borderlands (2009) and its sequels. In 2013 he pledged US$25,000 to the crowdfunding campaign for the movie Director's Cut (2016), for which he received an executive producer credit. He's married to Kristy Junio, who also works at Gearbox. They have a son.