Saber Interactive CEO Confirms Trailer Dig at Gearbox's Randy Pitchford, Citing Borderlands 4 Jab at Embracer
A trailer for Saber Interactive's upcoming game Rideshare 'Stimulator' contains a pointed jab at Gearbox president Randy Pitchford — and Saber's CEO has confirmed it was deliberate.
Matt Karch, who leads Saber Interactive, told Game File that the dig was a direct response to shots Pitchford took at Embracer Group inside Borderlands 4. Embracer, a Swedish games holding company, previously owned both Saber and Gearbox. "The dig is because Randy took shots at Embracer in Borderlands 4," Karch said. "Without Embracer, Randy is performing magic tricks at birthday parties for a living." The quote was reported by VGC on 11 August 2026. (VGC)
The trailer's choice of ammunition is specific. A car appears on screen bearing a Texas state registration plate that reads "USB DRV" — a reference to a 2018 incident in which Pitchford reportedly left a USB drive containing what was described as "barely legal porn" at a Medieval Times restaurant in Dallas, Texas. The plate's Texas marking ties it to Pitchford's home state.
Borderlands 4, developed by Gearbox, includes a location called Embracer's Bluff. Players encounter a large trash dump and an AI-powered toilet there — imagery widely read as mockery directed at Embracer, the company that once held Gearbox before selling it on.
The corporate history gives the spat its edge. Embracer acquired Gearbox in April 2021 for US$363 million, then sold the studio to Take-Two Interactive three years later for US$460 million. Saber Interactive, meanwhile, remained under Embracer's umbrella. An Embracer Q2 2022/23 interim report stated that certain companies would operate as subsidiaries under Saber, with Matthew Karch holding controlling influence over them. (Embracer Group)
In other words, both studios sat under the same parent company, and one studio's head is now publicly calling out the other for mocking that parent in a shipped game.
For players, the exchange is a rare moment of executive-level trash talk spilling into game content itself. Studio leaders rarely confirm that their trailers carry personal attacks on rivals by name. Karch's openness — both about the dig and his reasoning — turns what could have stayed as fan speculation into a documented feud between two figures whose companies have collectively changed hands for nearly a billion dollars.
Whether the back-and-forth continues in future content or trailers remains, for now, unanswered. The first shot in this particular round, though, is confirmed fired.
