Borderlands developer wonders why the game hasn't been cloned

Gamasutra writes: "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."

[MARNEY]

I guess there is a fine line between stealing & being influenced by other games or movies.
I always thought the borderlands formula was to steal successful concepts from others, & roll it all into one...
Randy's take here.
http://www.gamespot.com/bor...

[hay]

True dat.
Borderlands borrows from so many mechanics it's hard to do a clone of it without doing the same, it means pretty much more borrowing from everyone else than Borderlands.

That being said, can't wait for Borderlands 2.

[SilentNegotiator]

And Borderlands is really just sort of a generic shooter set in an open world anyway. Shoot some creatures in the face, then kill Jason Voorhes a thousand times, rinse and repeat. Bare minimum FPS stimulation. Hardly even a story.

[lastofgen]

definitely agree. game is just too boring.

[Mounce]

I think not many have done the same sort of style of game was because Balancing with the stat and weaponry and all that, takes a good deal of work to ensure nothing is overpowered or stupidly broken. Take Diablo 3 for instance, Blizzard took the lazy-ass approach and made EVERYTHING randomized and nothing written in stone via equip or weaponry within a certain border, meaning less unique/exclusivity and more Random Luck of the draw.

This is Random luck AND balance and is rewarding, Borderlands having more reward for your Buck/Pow/Adventure than Diablo 3 is pretty sad to admit....

[PopRocks359]

Because not everyone is Sony. /s

Well, part of it is that games like Borderlands already exist. Ruined wasteland like Fallout, online free-roaming four player coop like Dead Island. Borderlands took a bunch of elements and threw them together to create something with some relatively original ideas.

That and it would take a big budget studio to make a clone of any popular game gain any sort of real ground. Compre Sony's Playstation All-Stars to Capcom's MaXplosion.

[justpassinggas]

Actually no. It's apparent you haven't played Diablo 2. Borderlands simply turned Diablo 2 into a shooter. Except even Diablo 2's barebones plot was more engaging and interesting than the story in Borderlands.

[PopRocks359]

No, I haven't played Diablo II or any of the other Diablo games. All your comment does is further my point either way; games like Borderlands existed before Borderlands did; that's my argument.

EDIT: I assume the bulk of my disagrees are for the sarcastic remark about Sony? What does "/s" mean? Reading comprehension folks.

[IaMs12]

Well for one Borderlands came out before Dead Island so ya... Whats the problem of taking something fun and we all like and twisting it to fit another game? There is a limit but why not? ive said countless times of how i wished a certain game had a certain feature of another one and it would make it THAT much more epic/better.

[vallencer]

Just wanted to correct you on one part of your statement. Dead Island is more of a copy of borderlands considering it came out after. I mean the four player co op the huge amount of weapons in the game even though its based primarily around melee.

Yay here come the disagrees for a true statement haha. It isn't that i don't agree with him i just wanted to point out that Dead Island came out after so if anyone is copying anybody it would be Dead Island copying Borderlands considering it came out 2 years after. But i'm use to disagrees for pointing out obvious things lol.

[mep69]

I'm 100% sure they don't teach that /s means sarcastic in comprehension in school.

[PopRocks359]

This is the internet, not school. Big difference.

[NastyLeftHook0]

Because there not Turn 10 ./s

Well, Borderland's was cool and all but a tad overrated.

[Snookies12]

It was much better co-op... Singleplayer I didn't like the game all that much. Multiplayer was a blast... Enough to make me want to preorder Borderlands 2 for sure.

EDIT: Also, Turn 10 did copy the Gran Turismo formula, but it was actually a really good copy. Forza III was definitely one of my favorite games on my 360. Besides, copying is a good thing. You get more and more awesome ideas stacked up on an already awesome idea by lots of copying. Then it becomes something new entirely and is like... 10x as awesome as the original (if things go the right way lol).

[NastyLeftHook0]

i never played the multiplayer, i did not have internet lol i know ;) maybe ill check that out.

[Snookies12]

Why all the disagrees? Lol, is it true that talking positively about an Xbox game gets tons of them?

@tentonsoftube - Yeah I definitely recommend multiplayer on Borderlands if you have a friend you like to play online with.

[vickers500]

I disagreed with you because borderlands was still really good offline. In fact, if it's your first playthrough, it's better offline because it allows you to explore every nook and cranny, loot every little box or skag pile, and discover and enjoy things at your own pace. While Co op is very fun and provides much more replayability, doing Co op, at least with everyone I've played with, is too fast paced, every one just runs straight to the objective as fast as they can, often skipping areas which might have something interesting. That's why it's better in my opinion to do your first run through solo

[Wintersun616]

You're getting disagrees because you're basically saying that all other games copying one successful game is good. Which clearly is not a good thing. Taking inspirations and a handful of mechanics from good games is OK, but there are a lot of games that would've been better if they had tried to do their own thing instead of trying to be as much like CoD for example.

[mewhy32]

Well Borderlands is one of the best games I've ever played. It's a great story and many side stories keep it interesting and then there's the guns. Man there's lots and lots of guns. I love the art too. Just not many negative things that I can say about Borderlands. I'm also surprised that it's not been ripped off like so many other great games, Tomb Raider to Uncharted, Gran Turismo to Forza, Fallout to Rage, Mario to Crash, etc. You get the picture.

[Patriots_Pride]

Because there not SuperBot or Media Molecule./s

Boderland was ok but got repetitive real fast.

[Whitefeather]

How is Media Molecule ripping anything off? LBP Karting is basically Modnation 2 and is made by the same people. Get your facts straight.

[Wintersun616]

Probably meaning that 2D sidescrolling + jumping = Mario clone nowadays. Farfetched but I've heard that one before.

But yeah, MM games are one of the most innovative games this gen so he still needs more hours in the troll school.

[dark-hollow]

@wintersun

So the claim that PASBR is a clone is "farfetched but forza is a clone of gran turismo as you implied on your previous comment is right?

[MiloGarret]

Idiots, observe the /s. Stop writing retarded replies, it's insulting to... Evolution.

[Wintersun616]

@dark-hollow,

I never implied anything like that. If you ask me, there's no reason at all to think of Forza as a GT clone, because it's incredibly difficult to create a driving simulator game without making it very similar in many ways to previous games in the same genre. Also I know the two franchises have their differences.

I was thinking about FPS games that tried too much to be like CoD for example.

Also if you actually read what I wrote, you'd understand that I was talking about people blaming LBP of being a Mario clone. Which really is farfetched because the only things they have in common is 2D sidescrolling, jumping and family friendliness.

I don't know where you pulled PSASBR to my comments from, because I wasn't even talking about it, but here's my thoughts on the subject in a nutshell: Yes, the PSASBR seems to be very similar to SSB, but in it's defence a game like that is what many Sony fans have wanted for years. I'll admit they could've chosen to use a more differing type of presentation and gameplay though. Also I haven't seen enough of the game to deem it guilty or unguilty of blatantly copying SSB. It already has it's differences from SSB and there may or may not be more when we see more of the game.

[Rattlehead20]

How is Forza a GT copy? Because it's a driving sim?

Absolutely stupid logic from N4G's resident no-life PS fanboy.

If Forza is a GT clone then virtually all other platformers are Mario clones. Oh, and Pro Evo is a FIFA clone. Not to forget Killzone or Halo being a Doom clone.

[Whitefeather]

No offense to the fans (I've played it and enjoyed it)it's a hit or miss game. If you don't have people to play with it's just boring.

[Captain Tuttle]

I think it's a pretty solid game by itself but you're right, it's a whole different level with friends.

[Shok]

Not mainstream enough. People don't want to follow it's model because it'z not teh CoDz, basically.

[Patriots_Pride]

Well look at it from a developers point of view.

Would you imitate a game that sells 800k or 2mil.

Believe it or not this companies need money to pay bills and employees.

[rufusman91]

Because triple AAA copies dont happen often

[CraigUK]

call of duty does it every year

[Drummerdude41]

Whatever happened to fallout, stalker, hellgate london(system wise). Borderlands also wasn't the first game to have that kind of grind and loot system. On one end of the spectrum you have diablo 2 and the other you have call of duty/halo so i'm confused on where he is drawing that his game is on an individual platform(even if you include the melding of all these genres).
I still love the borderland series, disagree with this viewpoint.

[amaguli]

Not having clones is not a bad thing. Who cares if your the only game in town, more money for you to make. I just hope they don't abuse it.

[ApolloTheBoss]

Because other developers are worried that they might make a game that's TOO MUCH FUN!

[WeskerChildReborned]

Probably because it would be too obvious if someone were to copy it.

[AgreeFairy]

Because it's not a good idea to clone bad games.

[Raider69]

this guy is so full of shit!his ego will eat him some day!

[kma2k]

that comment made me think of the new futurama episode with the fungus dog ego lol!

[arbitor365]

"firefall" is taking alot from borderlands, which is why im looking forward to it

[urwifeminder]

For me it was boring as bat shit im glad no copies are out but we all have individual tastes.

[Campy da Camper]

Because cel shading sucks.

[ElementX]

I think randomized gear is pretty lame

[HappyWithOneBubble]

Borderlands not cloned because everyone's to busy trying to clone COD.

[310dodo]

i will def get tons of disagrees

but I tried to like Borderlands and it was just hollow
I hate you cannot create a character
and the world was empty

[Captain Tuttle]

I absolutely love the game but I can see your point of view and even agree somewhat. The game definitely has flaws but the strengths make up for them imo.

Game isn't for everyone though, most games aren't. At least you gave it a try, that's all a fan of the game (any game) can ask for from another gamer.

[ApolloTheBoss]

In Borderlands 2 you change the face and clothes of your character and the world is full of life. So you should check it out.

[fOrlOnhOpe57]

I loved Borderlands and played the hell out of it for the simple reason it was/is a fun title.
Recently,I play Kingdoms of Amular which is also an outstanding game and feels very much like Borderlands formulaic gameplay in so many different ways (without the guns and cel shading of course)

[nutcrackr]

I didn't enjoy borederlands solo or with friends

[DasTier]

I'm pretty sure Dead Island did? Open world RPG with looting elements split into different zones? Check. 4 Player coop with each character having different skill trees and abilities? Check. Enemies that gradually get stronger as you progress through the game? Check.

[glennco]

cel shading? No.
you just described a normal RPG

[DasTier]

In someways yes, but go play borderlands then play dead island, one has cell shading and more guns, the other has zombies and melee weapons. Other than that their practically the same game.

[Tzuno]

Borderlands developer wonders why the game hasn't been cloned. Well because the game is a clone in many aspects. Don't tell me that the idea is unique.

[kma2k]

What about Rage seemed like a damn close clone to me?

[MRMagoo123]

rage was closer to cod or bf than borderlands imo , i was actually hoping it was a clone of borderlands but alas it was a linear pile of turd.

[2pacalypsenow]

Rage didnt have 1000's of gun combinations

[glennco]

this guy thinks he is the man

[Lord_Sloth]

Arrogant Douchebag alert...

[2pacalypsenow]

I loved borderlands so much to do , one of my platinum :-)