Gearbox’s eagerly awaited first-person shooter, Borderlands 4, is set to launch 11 days earlier than originally scheduled. This exciting news was shared by Gearbox's development chief, Randy Pitchford, in a video that inadvertently went live ahead of time. Originally slated for a September 23 release, Borderlands 4 will now hit the shelves on September 12, available on PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and Nintendo Switch 2.
In the video, Pitchford expressed his enthusiasm, saying, "Everything is going great, actually. In fact, everything is going kind of the best-case scenario. The game is awesome, the team is cooking, and so the launch date for Borderlands 4 is changing. We’re moving it forward. The launch date is now September 12."
He further emphasized the rarity of such a move, exclaiming, "What?! This never happens you guys! This never happens! We’re moving the launch date forward! You’re gonna get Borderlands 4 earlier!" Additionally, Pitchford mentioned that a PlayStation State of Play focused on Borderlands 4 is expected to be released soon.
The decision to advance Borderlands 4's release date has sparked speculation about its relation to the impending release of Grand Theft Auto 6 (GTA 6). GTA 6, developed by Rockstar and also published by Take-Two, is currently slated for a fall 2025 release on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S. The proximity of these two major releases has led to questions about whether Borderlands 4's new date is strategically set to avoid direct competition with GTA 6.
It's noteworthy that both Borderlands 4 and GTA 6 fall under the umbrella of Take-Two, with CEO Strauss Zelnick overseeing the company's portfolio. The decision to move Borderlands 4 forward could be influenced by a clearer picture of GTA 6's release schedule, aiming to give Borderlands 4 a better chance at success.
If Borderlands 4 releases on September 12, it likely rules out GTA 6 launching in the same month or in August. This leaves October, November, or December 2025 as potential release windows for GTA 6. However, releasing these major titles too close together could lead to cannibalization within Take-Two's lineup. Another title to consider is Mafia: The Old Country, another 2K game set to launch in the summer of 2025.
In an interview with IGN in February, Strauss Zelnick addressed concerns about the potential for Take-Two's big games to compete against each other. He emphasized that the company plans its releases to avoid such risks, stating, "No, I think we will plan the releases so as not to have that be a problem. And what we found is when you're giving consumers hits, they tend to be interested in pursuing other hits. In other words, I've said this many times, even when the hits aren't ours, they're a good thing for the industry. In this case, we hope that the hits will largely be ours. So we feel really good about it and I think that we will time our releases so as to respect the consumer's need to spend a lot of time playing these hit games before they go on to the next."
Amidst the speculation, there's also the possibility that GTA 6 could be delayed into early winter or even the first quarter of 2026. When questioned about the confidence in hitting the fall 2025 target for GTA 6, Zelnick cautiously noted, "Look, there's always a risk of slippage and I think as soon as you say words like absolutely, you jinx things. So we feel really good about it."
