Pitchford: If Borderlands 2 comes to PS Vita, Sony has to make it

Randy Pitchford waxed poetic about how bad he wants Borderlands 2 on Vita again this week, but he says Sony needs to make it happen.

Randy Pitchford of Gearbox Software wants Borderlands 2 on the PlayStation Vita. Badly. If you doubt Pitchford’s desire to see his company’s humorous co-operative sci-fi shooter on Sony’s fancy handheld, re-examine his statements.

Who knows when his studio will have time to make it though? The PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 version of Borderlands 2 will hit stands on Tuesday, but that doesn’t mean Gearbox’s work is over. It’s still got multiple DLC expansions to complete , a fifth character to balance and include in the game, and then finish any patches the game might need to fix unforeseen problems. That’s why Pitchford thinks Sony needs to step up and make Borderlands 2 for PlayStation Vita a reality.

“I think it would be awesome to have Borderlands 2 on the Vita but I’m really busy,” Pitchford told IGN, “We can’t do it ourselves. If some other studio was capable and could be trusted by us, and by a publishing partner, and by Sony, and someone wanted to invest in making that happen? I think Sony should step up and make that happen.”

“I don’t think it would cost a lot, relatively speaking, and I know there’s a lot of talented people who have learned how to use the Vita and could do a great job at that. If that machine started to align itself, I wouldn’t be the hold up. I would actually be the enabler.”

In other words, Pitchford isn’t interested in playing intellectual property protector, he’s only interested in seeing a quality version of his game on Sony’s powerful little plastic brick.

The cross-play potential is certainly alluring. “Imagine you could be playing the game on your PS3 and then, OK, I need to go on a road trip or I have to go to work or something. When I take my Vita with me, I have access to the same cloud save and can continue my character. Can you imagine how amazing that would be?”

There are crucial relationships between Sony and Borderlands publisher 2K Games that could smooth the process. 2K studio Irrational Games has already committed to making an entry in the BioShock series for Vita.

If Borderlands 2 were going to make the leap to Vita, though, Gearbox itself might need to be involved to ensure quality. Activision is a publishing partner with Sony for the PS Vita’s Call of Duty Black Ops: Declassified. In the rush to get a popular property on the Vita, Sony and Activision handed the game off to Nihilistic rather than the Call of Duty series’ developers Treyarch and Infinity Ward. The result? A decidedly rough looking imitation of the console series.