Randy Pitchford, the development chief at Gearbox, has firmly stated that the decision to release Borderlands 4 earlier than planned was not influenced by the release dates of other games. Despite speculation that the move might be related to the release schedules of games like Marathon or Grand Theft Auto 6, Pitchford insists the shift was due to confidence in the game's development and progress.
Borderlands 4, a cooperative-focused first-person shooter, was originally set to launch on September 23 but will now hit the shelves on September 12. The game will be available on PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and Nintendo Switch 2. This 11-day change led to speculation that the parent company Take-Two, which also owns GTA developer Rockstar, might have adjusted the release date to avoid competing directly with Grand Theft Auto 6, slated for a fall 2025 release.
There was also speculation that Borderlands 4 might have been moved to avoid a direct clash with Bungie’s Marathon, another cooperative-focused extraction shooter set to release on the same day, September 23, 2025. Marathon is a significant title for Bungie, now owned by Sony. Borderlands 4 is set to have its own PlayStation State of Play broadcast on April 30 at 2pm PT / 5pm ET / 11pm CEST.
However, Pitchford took to social media to clarify that the decision to bring Borderlands 4 forward was purely based on "confidence" and the game's "development trajectory." He stated, “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 game release dates to be moved forward (delays are more typical), Chris Dring, Editor-In-Chief and Co-Founder of The Game Business, found the decision "a bit odd" if it truly wasn't influenced by other games' release dates. Dring pointed out that the original date was already set and publicized, suggesting there must be a strong commercial reason for the change.
In a video message, Pitchford shared the surprise news of the new release date, emphasizing the positive development progress. “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!”
Borderlands 4 is published by 2K Games, which, along with Gearbox and the Borderlands IP, is owned by Take-Two. This same company is the parent of GTA developer Rockstar, and at the executive level, including CEO Strauss Zelnick, there is likely a strategic overview of all game releases to ensure each has the best chance of success.
In an interview with IGN in February, Zelnick discussed Take-Two's approach to release timing, 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 is also the possibility that Grand Theft Auto 6 might be delayed into early winter or the first quarter of 2026. When asked about the confidence in hitting 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.”
