Artist Olly Moss called Gearbox out on Twitter by noticing that a particular piece of Borderlands 2 artwork looked strangely familiar – the piece looked a lot like the original poster he did for Star Wars Episode 5: The Empire Strikes Back. The piece he was comparing it to was a promotional piece of art for Borderlands 2.
Moss said he thought at first it was just homage to the poster, but decided to say something after he noticed that the Borderlands 2 artist seemed to have literally lifted elements of the picture such as the clouds into their promo work.
After noticing multiple gaming news sites making articles about it, Moss said that he wasn't upset, "just a little surprised" and that it "felt weird coming from such a great dev". He also mentioned that he was not interested in legal action, and that he loved Gearbox's work.
Gearbox President Randy Pitchford has since apologized to Moss, saying "You're amazing. Inspiration is part of art and you've inspired us. But the bit that was lifted is uncool, so… consequences," and he also said for Olly to "Check your e-mail. We should be working together to do it right and legit" and that he was "really looking forward to working together."
Quite a few people commented that Gearbox and Moss working together was good news and that the two handled it in a very respectable manner. Now if only more issues in the world – or even just in the gaming industry – could be handled that way.
