Borderlands 2: "Girlfriend mode" comment sparks outrage

Borderlands 2 lead director John Hemingway has controversially labelled one of the game's new skill trees as "Girlfriend Mode."

In an interview with Eurogamer, Hemingway announced a user-friendly skill tree called Best Friends Forever. This will introduce perks that make the game easier, including an addition that lowers the need for accuracy when shooting.

Hemingway explained:

"The design team was looking at the concept art and thought, you know what, this is actually the cutest character we've ever had. I want to make, for the lack of a better term, the girlfriend skill tree," Hemingway said.

"This is, I love Borderlands and I want to share it with someone, but they suck at first-person shooters. Can we make a skill tree that actually allows them to understand the game and to play the game? That's what our attempt with the Best Friends Forever skill tree is."

While this addition isn't officially called "Girlfriend Mode," Randy Pitchford felt the need to put things straight in a string of recent tweets.

"Borderlands 2 does NOT have a girlfriend mode. Anyone that says otherwise is misinformed or trying to stir up something that isn't there," he said.

"The future DLC Mechromancer class has a skill tree that makes it easier for less skilled coop partners (any gender!) to play and be useful."

In response to a disgruntled reply, Pitchford concluded, "I didn't know it was a nickname. It's not even a thing - just a skill built from the idea of playing coop with noob friends."

That's us, and everybody else, firmly told.