Gearbox president Pitchford asking for another developer to make 'Borderlands 2' on Vita

Gearbox Software is "too busy" to develop Borderlands 2 on Vita in-house, but hopes that someone else will take on the project, said studio head Randy Pitchford today.

Gearbox Software is "too busy" to develop Borderlands 2 on Vita in-house, but hopes that someone else will take on the project, said studio head Randy Pitchford today.

Speaking at the Rezzed convention in Brighton, UK, Pitchford called on Borderlands fans to push Sony to "get behind" the franchise and facilitate a Vita version of Borderlands 2. "I'd love to see a Vita version of the game," he said.

Pitchford asserted that cross-platform functionality is doable, and even posited an implementation: "I want to be able to have the character I'm working on with my PS3, and then when I'm on the road with my Vita I can just keep developing that same character because it exists on the cloud somewhere." It's unclear if he was suggesting a complete Borderlands 2 experience that would simply be compressed to fit on the Vita, or a companion game that would offer something related, but different, while supporting the PS3 game.

The latter path would follow the model of Irrational Games, which is working on a Vita version of BioShock Infinite that will likely launch at some point after the PS3, 360, and PC game comes out on February 26, 2013. Infinite on Vita is planned not as a port of the console/PC title, but as a separate experience that has "its own voice in the franchise," according to creative director Ken Levine. Irrational has also considered outsourcing the Vita title.

Borderlands 2 will launch for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC on September 18th.