Gearbox Says that Borderlands 4 Doesn't Use Spyware

Borderlands 4 developer studio Gearbox has again unequivocally denied that "Take-Two does not use spyware in its games." 

The developers released a similar statement earlier this year after changes to Borderlands 3's EULA sparked some controversy in the community. The accusations were the same: that the game has been basically turned into spyware. 

PC players flooded the Steam storefront and review-bombed Borderlands 1, 2 and 3. By May, the series had "Mostly Negative" and "Overwhelmingly Negative" scores. Gearbox had to respond then, and is doing the same again. 

It seems like it's just prevention, especially after some user reviews for Borderlands 4 also mentioned that changes in the game's EULA are designed to have the game collect data from its users.

The explication

The developers have said that "Take-Two does not use spyware in its games".

"Take-Two's Privacy Policy applies to all labels, studios, games, and services across all media and platform types such as console, PC, mobile app, and website. The Privacy Policy identifies the data activities that may be collected but this does not mean that every example is collected in each game or service," Gearbox added.

They also offered examples of what the collected information is used for.

"For example, player and device identifiers are collected in part to ensure the game is compatible with each player's media, platform or website browser type. It allows us to better understand how players play games, and to personalize the user experience (like having usernames show up!). Account credentials are collected from users who choose to create accounts with Take-Two and its labels."

Mods are welcome

Lastly, the same EULA mentioned game mods, and users took it that Take-Two doesn't want people to build mods. Gearbox explained that only multiplayer mods are not accepted, but the ones that only affect the single player experience are welcomed as long as they are non-commercial and respect the intellectual property. 

It's also worth noting that gaming mods are often an attack vector for cybercriminals looking to trick players into installing malicious software. Always running a powerful security solution such as Bitdefender Ultimate Security in the background is a great way to keep players safe.

Bitdefender Ultimate Security gives you real-time threat detection, advanced anti-phishing, and a gamer mode that optimizes performance while keeping your data safe.