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

Gearbox's highly anticipated first-person shooter, Borderlands 4, is set to launch 11 days earlier than initially planned. In an unexpected announcement, Randy Pitchford, the development chief, confirmed in a video that the game will now hit the shelves on September 12 instead of the originally scheduled date of September 23. This early release will be available across multiple platforms, including PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and the Nintendo Switch 2.

In the video, Pitchford expressed his enthusiasm about the project, 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." His excitement was palpable as he added, "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 a PlayStation State of Play event, focusing on Borderlands 4, is expected to be released soon, further building anticipation among fans.

The decision to advance the release date of Borderlands 4 has sparked speculation about its potential connection to the looming release of another major title, Grand Theft Auto 6 (GTA 6). GTA 6, developed by Rockstar Games and published by Take-Two (the same parent company as 2K Games, which publishes Borderlands 4), is slated for a fall 2025 release on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S. The vague release window of GTA 6 could potentially overshadow other game releases, including Borderlands 4. It's possible that the decision to move Borderlands 4's release date was made to give it more room to breathe in the market.

Take-Two's CEO, Strauss Zelnick, has addressed concerns about the potential cannibalization of their major 2025 releases. In an interview, Zelnick emphasized that Take-Two plans its game releases strategically to avoid such issues, 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."

Additionally, Take-Two has another major title, Mafia: The Old Country, set to launch in the summer of 2025, which adds another layer of complexity to their release strategy. The possibility of GTA 6 being delayed into early winter or even into the first quarter of 2026 remains a topic of discussion. When questioned about the confidence in meeting the fall 2025 release for GTA 6, Zelnick responded cautiously, "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."