Gearbox development chief Randy Pitchford has firmly stated that the decision to release Borderlands 4 earlier than initially planned was not influenced by the release dates of other games, such as Marathon or Grand Theft Auto 6. Despite speculation suggesting otherwise, Pitchford emphasized that the move was solely due to confidence in the game and its development progress.
Originally slated for a September 23 release, Borderlands 4—a cooperative-focused first-person shooter—will now launch on September 12, available across PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and Nintendo Switch 2. This 11-day shift led to rumors that GTA 6's release date, currently set for the fall of 2025, might have prompted parent company Take-Two to adjust Borderlands 4's date to avoid competition. Take-Two also owns GTA developer Rockstar.
There were also whispers that Borderlands 4 might have been rescheduled to avoid a direct clash with Bungie's Marathon, another cooperative-focused extraction shooter. Marathon is pivotal for Bungie, which is owned by Sony, and was initially set to release on the same day as Borderlands 4, September 23, 2025. Borderlands 4 will be highlighted in its own PlayStation State of Play broadcast on April 30 at 2pm PT / 5pm ET / 11pm CEST.
However, Pitchford took to Twitter to dispel these rumors, stating, "Borderlands 4 shipping early is 100% the result of confidence in the game and development trajectory backed by actual tasks and bug find/fix rates. Our decision is literally 0% about any other product’s actual or theoretical launch date."
While it's uncommon for games to move their release dates forward (delays are more typical), Chris Dring, Editor-In-Chief and Co-Founder of The Game Business, commented on the situation, saying that if other games' release dates truly had no influence, the decision to shift Borderlands 4's date is "a bit odd." Dring pointed out that Borderlands 4's original release date was already public and well-marketed, suggesting there must be a significant commercial rationale behind the change.
In a video message released early yesterday, Pitchford shared the news of the new release date, 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. What?! This never happens you guys! This never happens! We’re moving the launch date forward! You’re gonna get Borderlands 4 earlier!"
It's important to note that Borderlands 4 is published by 2K Games, which, along with Gearbox and the Borderlands IP, is owned by Take-Two. Take-Two is also the parent company of GTA developer Rockstar. At the executive level, including CEO Strauss Zelnick, there is likely awareness of all the company's games and their development status, with a focus on ensuring the success of each title.
In an interview with IGN in February, Zelnick discussed Take-Two's strategy for game releases, aiming to avoid cannibalization and respect consumers' time with hit games. He said, "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 this speculation, there's also talk about potential delays for GTA 6, possibly into early winter or the first quarter of 2026. When asked about the confidence in hitting the fall 2025 release for GTA 6, Zelnick cautiously responded, "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."
