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

Gearbox's highly anticipated first-person shooter, Borderlands 4, is set to release 11 days earlier than initially planned, as announced by development chief Randy Pitchford in a video that surfaced earlier than intended. Originally slated for a September 23 launch, Borderlands 4 will now hit the shelves on September 12, available across PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and Nintendo Switch 2.

In the video, Pitchford shared 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 added with excitement, "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 mentioned that a PlayStation State of Play focused on Borderlands 4 is expected to be released soon.

The decision to advance the release date has sparked speculation about its potential relation to the looming release of Grand Theft Auto 6 (GTA 6), which is set to launch on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S sometime in the fall of 2025. The broad release window for GTA 6 might overshadow other games, including Borderlands 4. Given that both games are published by companies under the Take-Two umbrella—2K Games for Borderlands 4 and Rockstar for GTA 6—it's plausible that strategic planning at the executive level, including insights from Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick, influenced the decision to give Borderlands 4 a more favorable launch window.

If Borderlands 4 launches on September 12, it might push GTA 6's release to later months such as October, November, or December 2025. This adjustment could prevent Take-Two from inadvertently cannibalizing its major releases, especially considering another 2K title, Mafia: The Old Country, is scheduled for a summer 2025 release.

In an interview with IGN in February, Zelnick addressed concerns about potential release conflicts, stating, "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's also the possibility that GTA 6 could face delays, potentially shifting its release to early winter or the first quarter of 2026. When asked about the confidence in meeting the fall 2025 deadline 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."