User blog comment:Argorrath/Gearbox declines Activision's offer to develop a game of Call of Duty/@comment-3964768-20130117003828

Strikes me as ironic when a few of my friends say Borderlands 2 was basically the same as the first, give or take a new HUD, story and elements (but gameplay-wise similar). You know, just like the main complaint of COD. So perhaps "playing by the rules" wouldn't have changed much...