Gearbox Software boss Randy Pitchford is "astonished" that no one has copied Borderlands.

The loot-based RPG-esque shooter offered a fresh take on the FPS when it hit in 2009, but as the world warms up for this year’s sequel Pitchford is amazed that nobody has latched on to the formula.

"I'm actually astonished that we're about to launch a sequel and no one's stole it from us," said Pitchford. "The formula's right there. No one's stolen it yet. That's weird.”

Pitchford is even more surprised considering he believes that the video game industry is based on theft.

"We're in an industry where people do nothing but steal from each other. That's kind of interesting, isn't it? Not that I want anyone to steal it, or I'm challenging people to steal it."

Although Borderlands was seen as a risk, Pitchford still believes that innovation is preferable to attempting to copy the current market leader Call of Duty.

"To do that, you really have to put in a lot. You have to really go for it and spend a lot. You have to basically not only out-brute force the market leader, but you have to out-clever them. The game has to be better. The marketing and production effort -- everything has to be bigger and better, and then you might kind of match or come close.

"It's kinda like Jerry Garcia. He said something like, 'You don't merely want to be the best at what you do. You want to be the only ones that do what you do.' If you're the only ones that do something that people find as valuable? You don't have to worry about competition. Like, Borderlands has zero competition. It doesn't have to worry about that at all."

Check out our latest video interview with Randy Pitchford here. Borderlands 2 is out on September 18th in North America and September 21st in Europe.

[via Gamasutra]