Randy Pitchford: Borderlands 4 Release Date Not Tied to Other Game Launches

Randy Pitchford, the head of development at Gearbox, has firmly denied that the decision to move up the release date of Borderlands 4 was influenced by other games' launch schedules. Speculation had arisen that the shift might have been due to the release dates of high-profile titles like Marathon by Bungie or Grand Theft Auto 6 by Rockstar. However, Pitchford emphasized that the change was driven by "confidence" in the game and its development progress.

Originally slated for a September 23 release, Borderlands 4 will now hit the shelves on September 12, available across multiple platforms including PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and Nintendo Switch 2. This 11-day advancement fueled rumors that Take-Two, the parent company of both Gearbox and Rockstar, might have adjusted Borderlands 4's release to avoid competition with GTA 6, set for a fall 2025 launch.

There was also speculation about a potential clash with Marathon, another co-op focused shooter by Bungie, which was initially scheduled for the same day as Borderlands 4. Marathon is a pivotal release for Bungie, now under Sony's ownership.

In a tweet, Pitchford clarified, "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."

Chris Dring, Editor-In-Chief and Co-Founder of The Game Business, expressed skepticism about the move, noting that shifting a release date after it has been widely publicized is unusual. "They’ve gone out with a date," Dring tweeted. "It’s on calendars, market materials, social assets... Put ‘Borderlands 4 release date’ into Google and it still says Sep 23. There’s surely got to be a good commercial reason to shift a date."

Pitchford announced the new release date in a video message, expressing excitement about the game's progress and the team's performance. "Everything is going great, actually," he said. "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, a subsidiary of Take-Two, which also owns Gearbox and the Borderlands IP. Take-Two is also the parent company of Rockstar, the developer behind GTA 6. At the executive level, including CEO Strauss Zelnick, there is likely a strategic overview of all game releases to maximize their success.

In an interview with IGN, Zelnick discussed Take-Two's approach to release timing, aiming to avoid cannibalization of sales. "No, I think we will plan the releases so as not to have that be a problem," he stated. "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 of a potential delay for GTA 6 into early winter or the first quarter of 2026. Zelnick responded cautiously to inquiries about GTA 6's release, saying, "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."

Borderlands 4 is set to have its own PlayStation State of Play broadcast on April 30, at 2pm PT / 5pm ET / 11pm CEST, providing further details and excitement for fans eagerly awaiting its release.