Gearbox improvement chief Randy Pitchford has insisted the choice to launch Borderlands 4 sooner than deliberate had nothing to do with every other sport’s launch date, amid hypothesis the shooter may need moved as a consequence of video games reminiscent of Marathon or Grand Theft Auto 6.
Co-op targeted FPS Borderlands 4 was due out September 23, however will now launch on September 12 throughout PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Sequence X and S, and Nintendo Change 2.
This 11-day shift sparked hypothesis that GTA 6’s launch date had come into focus and that father or mother firm Take-Two, which additionally owns GTA developer Rockstar, had shuffled its pack in a bid to provide Borderlands 4 extra respiration room. GTA 6 is presently nonetheless all the way down to launch within the fall of 2025.
There was additionally discuss that Borderlands 4 may need moved as a consequence of a conflict with Bungie’s Marathon, a co-op targeted extraction shooter. Marathon is an important sport for Bungie, which is owned by Sony, and was set to go up in opposition to Borderlands 4 by releasing on the identical day, September 23, 2025. Borderlands 4 is getting its personal PlayStation State of Play broadcast in the present day, April 30, at 2pm PT / 5pm ET / 11pm CEST.
However in a tweet, Pitchford denied any sport’s launch date influenced the choice to deliver Borderlands 4 ahead, insisting it needed to do with “confidence” and “improvement trajectory.”
“Borderlands 4 transport early is 100% the results of confidence within the sport and improvement trajectory backed by precise duties and bug discover/repair charges,” Pitchford stated. “Our resolution is actually 0% about every other product’s precise or theoretical launch date.”
Whereas many video games have introduced their launch dates ahead, it stays an uncommon occurence (delays are extra seemingly). Chris Dring, Editor-In-Chief and Co-Founding father of The Recreation Enterprise, stated that if different video games’ launch dates actually did don’t have anything to do with bringing Borderlands 4 ahead, then the choice is “a bit odd.”
“They’ve gone out with a date,” Dring tweeted. “It’s on calendars, market supplies, social belongings… Put ‘Borderlands 4 launch date’ into Google and it nonetheless says Sep 23. There’s absolutely obtained to be an excellent industrial purpose to shift a date.”
In a video message apparently revealed early yesterday, Pitchford revealed the shock Borderlands 4 launch date information. “The whole lot goes nice, really,” he stated. “The truth is, all the pieces goes sort of the best-case situation. The sport is superior, the crew is cooking, and so the launch date for Borderlands 4 is altering. We’re shifting it ahead. The launch date is now September 12.”
“What?! This by no means occurs you guys! This by no means occurs! We’re shifting the launch date ahead! You’re gonna get Borderlands 4 earlier!”
It’s price noting that Borderlands 4 is revealed by 2K Video games, which is owned by Take-Two. Gearbox itself and the Borderlands IP are additionally owned by Take-Two. In the meantime, Take-Two is the father or mother firm of GTA developer Rockstar. At a excessive sufficient degree, proper as much as CEO Strauss Zelnick, there shall be a information of all the corporate’s video games, the place they’re at in improvement, and a want to provide all of them the perfect probability of success.
In an interview with IGN in February, Zelnick stated Take-Two is planning its releases to keep away from a danger of cannibalization, insisting launch timing is pushed by a want to “respect the patron’s want to spend so much of time enjoying these hit video games earlier than they go on to the subsequent.”
“No, I feel we’ll plan the releases in order to not have that be an issue,” Zelnick stated. “And what we discovered is whenever you’re giving shoppers hits, they are usually involved in pursuing different hits. In different phrases, I’ve stated this many instances, even when the hits aren’t ours, they are a good factor for the business. On this case, we hope that the hits will largely be ours. So we really feel actually good about it and I feel that we’ll time our releases in order to respect the patron’s want to spend so much of time enjoying these hit video games earlier than they go on to the subsequent.”
Amid all this hypothesis is after all the prospect that GTA 6 shall be delayed both into early winter, or sooner or later within the first quarter of 2026.
“Look, there’s at all times a danger of slippage and I feel as quickly as you say phrases like completely, you jinx issues,” Zelnick responded when IGN requested how assured he was that Rockstar would hit fall 2025 for GTA 6. “So we really feel actually good about it.”
Wesley is the UK Information Editor for IGN. Discover him on Twitter at @wyp100. You’ll be able to attain Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.