Just yesterday, Gearbox announced that it was moving the release date of Borderlands 4 from September 23rd to September 12th. The announcement was met with a mixture of celebration as well as speculation as to why Gearbox was shifting the date.
Many assumed the new date had to do with the launch of Grand Theft Auto 6. Rockstar Games has not yet announced the release date of GTA 6, but Take-Two, the parent company of both Rockstar and Gearbox, has stuck with a Fall 2025 launch window.
Borderlands 4 has often been linked to GTA 6 because both studios are owned by Take-Two. In fact, when Borderlands announced its initial release date of September 23rd, many assumed that meant GTA 6 would launch in October or November.
Now that Borderlands 4 has been moved up by 11 days, many believe it's because Take-Two and Rockstar Games have ironed out a more specific release date for GTA 6, and Take-Two doesn't want to cannibalize its own games' sales.
Apparently, that's all rubbish — at least according to Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford. Following all of the speculation, Pitchford took to social media to stress that Borderlands 4's release date is all to do with development trajectory and nothing to do with fear of launching around what is easily this year's biggest title in GTA 6.
"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," Pitchford wrote on X. "Our decision is literally 0% about any other product’s actual or theoretical launch date."
Naturally, the post was met with skepticism from the gaming community, who still believe it was because of Grand Theft Auto 6. And really, no one would even blame Gearbox for it.
GTA 6 figures to be the biggest game of 2025, if not the biggest game of all time. Analysts predict the game could sell 40 million copies and generate $3.2 billion in sales in its first year alone. Even though Borderlands 4 also figures to be incredibly popular as well, it does make sense that Take-Two would want some distance between the two games.
Regardless of the reason, fans should celebrate that a game is getting an earlier release date for once and not a delay. Borderlands 4 will launch on September 11th, with GTA 6 presumably following weeks later. Gamers interested in a lengthier look will want to tune in to the Borderlands 4 State of Play today, where we are promised 15-plus minutes of deep dive gameplay.