Thousands of players are convinced Borderlands is spying on them. Now, expert modder EpicNNG, who has picked apart every installment, has stepped up to say: there’s no spyware in these games.
The Borderlands franchise is seeing a slump that’s become a case study of its own. Sure, Gearbox is putting the finishing touches on Borderlands 4—coming September 12—but fans have been fuming at Take-Two over recent changes to Steam’s EULA (End User License Agreement). The uproar triggered a rumor that Borderlands games contain spyware, especially after Gearbox handed out free copies of Borderlands 2 to every PC player. Fortunately, one modder has investigated and is confident there’s nothing shady lurking in the code.
We’re not talking about just any player—this is EpicNNG, a respected modder who’s built add-ons for every Borderlands game, and who made headlines for resurrecting pieces of the long-canceled Borderlands MMO. Now, he’s addressing the controversy head-on with a new YouTube video revealing his findings.
“First, the big question: Does Borderlands have spyware? The answer is no, there is no spyware in Borderlands.” EpicNNG states. “I’ve personally modded every Borderlands game and I can confirm: the games do not contain spyware anywhere. And yes, that includes kernel-level access on your PC. It simply doesn’t exist. The most invasive thing these games have done, in my personal opinion, is incorporate DRM, better known as Denuvo.”
The uproar began because the new EULA introduced by Take-Two collects device information, but most of that data was already required for SHiFT registration—Gearbox’s own online service for extra features and rewards. The community saw the new terms as permission to collect sensitive data, sparking fears of spyware in the games.
“The most spyware Gearbox has integrated into these games is the collection of statistics in the form of activity completion logs, enemies killed, and character decisions. So this isn’t new and, as far as I know, has been around since 2012. It’s extremely common in almost every video game connected to an online service.”
Could Gearbox or Take-Two Sneak in Spyware in the Future?
Is it possible for Gearbox or Take-Two to add spyware later? EpicNNG says the modding community would spot any suspicious changes in Borderlands immediately. “Borderlands games include a hotfix system that allows Gearbox to make changes from their end. From our knowledge as modders, they currently have no way to introduce spyware, nor do they have a way to mine your personal information for their supposed benefit.” the modder explains. “However, if they do—and even if we don’t understand how they do it—we would know they were doing something right away, because every time they release a hotfix on their server, we log it. We log every hotfix that is released. We can review and track changes as they are made public on the server.”
This isn’t the only PR headache Gearbox is juggling. The community has also slammed studio boss Randy Pitchford for saying that even though Borderlands 4 is $80, “true fans will find a way to pay for it.” Pitchford later clarified this was a “misunderstanding,” but stood by his point that “games are more expensive to make than ever.”
Source: 3djuegos
