Aliens: Colonial Marines development time similar to Borderlands, Brothers in Arms

Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford has explained that an early announcement for Aliens: Colonial marines is responsible for a common misconception that the game has been in development hell.

In a statement provided to Eurogamer, Pitchford explained that the initial press release regarding the game's licensing came earlier in the process than is typical for announces.

"Because the game was 'announced' with that original press release, it might feel, to those of you who have been waiting for the game since then, that it has been in development a long time," he said.

"In fact, with the release date now set, it turns out that the total development time we have spent creating Aliens: Colonial Marines is about the same length of time as we had spent creating the original Borderlands or the original Brothers in Arms - both games that we had waited to announce until we were much farther along in the development process."

The Gearbox boss said the team is now in a position to "sufficiently quantify" what work remains, and is "very confident in the schedule for the game's completion and commercial release".

Pitchford also noted that the game was only just out of the prototype stage when it was first given a title and featured in Game Informer.

"We've always prioritized the goals we had for the game over any particular launch window," he added.

Aliens: Colonial Marines was dated yesterday, and will launch on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in February. A Wii U release remains politely undisclosed.