Borderlands 4 Release Date Moved Up 11 Days: Impact on GTA 6?

Gearbox's highly anticipated first-person shooter, Borderlands 4, is set to hit the shelves 11 days earlier than originally planned. This exciting news was shared by Gearbox's development chief, Randy Pitchford, in a video that accidentally went live prematurely.

Originally slated for a September 23 release, Borderlands 4 will now launch on September 12, available across multiple platforms including PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and Nintendo Switch 2.

In the video, Pitchford expressed his enthusiasm, stating, "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 couldn't contain his excitement, exclaiming, "What?! This never happens you guys! This never happens! We’re moving the launch date forward! You’re gonna get Borderlands 4 earlier!"

Pitchford also mentioned that fans can look forward to an upcoming PlayStation State of Play focused on Borderlands 4, which is expected to be released soon.

This unexpected move to advance the release date has sparked speculation about its relation to the looming release of Grand Theft Auto 6 (GTA 6), which is set for the fall of 2025 on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S. With such a broad release window, there's a possibility that GTA 6 could overshadow other games, including Borderlands 4. Could this early release be a strategic move to give Borderlands 4 more breathing room?

It's worth noting that Borderlands 4 is published by 2K Games, a subsidiary of Take-Two, which is also the parent company of GTA developer Rockstar. At the executive level, including CEO Strauss Zelnick, there would be awareness of all the company's projects and a desire to ensure their success. Perhaps recent developments regarding GTA 6's release date prompted the decision to move Borderlands 4's release forward by nearly two weeks.

If Borderlands 4 launches on September 12, it likely means that GTA 6 won't be released in the same month or in August. This leaves October, November, or December 2025 as potential release dates for GTA 6. However, there's a risk that releasing Take-Two's major titles too close together could lead to them competing for the same audience. Additionally, another 2K title, Mafia: The Old Country, is scheduled for release in the summer of 2025.

In a February interview with Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick, he addressed concerns about potential cannibalization of their big releases. Zelnick emphasized that Take-Two plans its release schedule to mitigate 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 this speculation, there's also the possibility that GTA 6 might face delays, potentially shifting its release to early winter or the first quarter of 2026. When asked about his confidence in meeting the fall 2025 release for GTA 6, Zelnick 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."