“We’re in an industry where people do nothing but steal from each other,” says Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford, speaking to Gamasutra. So he wonders why hasn’t anyone stolen ideas from his extremely popular gamer, Borderlands.
“I’m actually astonished that we’re about to launch a sequel and no one’s stole it from us,” he continued. “The formula’s right there. No one’s stolen it yet. That’s weird.”
“Not that I want anyone to steal it, or I’m challenging people to steal it,” he continued.
Pitchford said it was a difficult time for them when the first game was being promoted, because on one hand you must scream as loud as possible to get recognition for the game, then a new IP. But in tandem you must be careful as the formula was new and exciting, and could easily be stolen by another studio. That, however, hasn’t happened.
“When talking about Borderlands 1, it was really confusing, because on one hand we gotta scream from the highest mountain to get attention because it’s a new IP. On the other hand, it’s like, ‘Shit, we don’t want to tell people our secret because then they’re all gonna copy it because it’s so good.’”
Borderlands 2 comes out in September for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. Gearbox wouldn’t mind a PS Vita version.