One of the most favorite characters in the Borderlands franchise, the tiny robot Claptrap, is getting a new voice in Borderlands 3. This is because the original voice actor is not returning to the latest title to reprise his role of the lively robot that makes traversing in Borderlands fun. The original voice actor behind Claptrap was David Eddings and he is not returning as Claptrap this time around.
David Eddings was earlier working with Gearbox Studios as the vice president of licensing and business development however he later left the studio after which he announced that he was not paid extra for lending his voice to the game as Claptrap. Upon demand of the pay, the studio offered the role to someone else. At this point, he was not working with the studio anymore.
In the latest gameplay reveal trailer of Borderlands 3, the most noticeable factor was the different voice of Claptrap because, in every franchise, the game starts with Claptrap helping the player getting settled in the world. This makes it one of the most rememberable character of the game because his role does not end just at the start, you see Claptraps everywhere in the game.
This was revealed by David Eddings on his official Twitter account when one of the fans asked him that is he still playing the role of Claptrap in the Borderlands 3. His reply was:
No. For the first time, I insisted on getting paid for my performance and all of a sudden they couldn't afford me. Now I'm not telling them how to run their business but maybe next time they should put the $12M payment from 2K in the Gearbox bank account instead. Just sayin'…
— David Eddings (@davideddings) May 2, 2019
On the other hand, Gearbox states that they could not work out a deal with Eddings which led to the role going to someone else. This was revealed by Gearbox in an official statement to IGN. Randy Pitchfork, Gearbox CEO, also responded to the situation by saying that the offer was made to Eddings but he turned it down himself.
Mr. Eddings was paid very handsomely during his employment. After his employment he was made a relatively generous offer to reprise the role. Unfortunately, he turned that opportunity down.
— Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) May 3, 2019
The official statement made to IGN by Gearbox states:
Gearbox works to treat and compensate all voice actors at industry standards. We offer the opportunity for salaried employees to voice characters in the game, but is not a mandatory responsibility to their job requirements. In this particular case, now that he was no longer an employee, we offered him an industry standard rate, but were not able to reach an agreement. We are confident and happy with Jim Foronda as the voice of Claptrap, and we are confident our fans will be too.
Whatever is the true case, we know for certain that Claptrap has a new voice for Borderlands 3 and we will miss his old voice played by David Eddings. If you still have to watch the latest gameplay reveal video, check it out below.
Do you like the new voice of Claptrap or you prefer the old, classic voice? Let us know in the comments section below.
