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

Gearbox's eagerly awaited first-person shooter, Borderlands 4, is set to launch 11 days earlier than initially planned. This exciting news comes directly from Gearbox's development chief, Randy Pitchford, who shared the update in a video that inadvertently went live early. Originally slated for a September 23 release, Borderlands 4 will now hit the shelves on September 12, available on 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 further emphasized the rarity of this move, 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 teased an upcoming PlayStation State of Play event focused on Borderlands 4, which is expected to be released soon.

This unexpected shift in release date has sparked speculation about its potential connection to the looming release of Grand Theft Auto 6 (GTA 6). Currently set for a fall 2025 release on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S, the vague window of GTA 6's launch could potentially overshadow other games, including Borderlands 4. Given that both games are under the umbrella of Take-Two, the parent company of both 2K Games (publisher of Borderlands 4) and Rockstar (developer of GTA 6), it's possible that internal decisions were made to provide Borderlands 4 with more breathing room in the market.

With Borderlands 4 now set for a September 12 release, it's likely that GTA 6 won't be released in the same month or August. This leaves October, November, or December 2025 as potential release dates for GTA 6. However, this strategic move by Take-Two raises concerns about the potential for its big titles to cannibalize each other if released too closely together. Another 2K game, Mafia: The Old Country, is also slated for a summer 2025 release, adding another layer to Take-Two's release schedule.

In an interview with IGN in February, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick addressed these concerns, assuring that the company plans its releases to avoid cannibalization. Zelnick emphasized, "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... 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."

Despite these reassurances, the possibility of GTA 6 facing delays into early winter or even the first quarter of 2026 remains. When asked about the confidence in hitting the fall 2025 target 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."