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"Not that I want anyone to steal it," says Gearbox president Randy Pitchford, but "the formula's right there," wondering how this industry which does "nothing but steal" has left his game alone.

July 23, 2012

1 Min Read

"We're in an industry where people do nothing but steal from each other," says Gearbox Studios president Randy Pitchford, whose Borderlands 2 comes out this fall. When Borderlands came out, many gamers and critics praised its blend of RPG quest/loot mechanics and polished shooter gameplay. It's a formula the developer feels is ripe for the taking. "I'm actually astonished that we're about to launch a sequel and no one's stole it from us," says Pitchford. "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 adds. One of the biggest challenges of promoting the first game in the series, he says, was talking about it without giving away the secret of its gameplay success, says Pitchford. "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.'" The full interview with Pitchford, in which he discusses in detail what it takes to make the right decisions and thrive as an independent triple-A studio in 2012, is live now on Gamasutra.

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