Borderlands 4 Release Moved Up 11 Days: Impact on GTA 6 Launch?

Gearbox’s much-anticipated first-person shooter, *Borderlands 4*, is set to launch 11 days earlier than originally planned. This exciting news was shared by development chief Randy Pitchford in a video that inadvertently went live ahead of schedule. Originally slated for a September 23 release, *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 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 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* would be released soon.

The decision to advance the release date has sparked speculation about its relation to the upcoming *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. Given the broad release window for GTA 6, there's a possibility that *Borderlands 4* was moved to carve out its own space in the market. It's noteworthy that *Borderlands 4* is published by 2K Games, a subsidiary of Take-Two, which also owns Rockstar, the developer of GTA 6. At the executive level, led by CEO Strauss Zelnick, there would be strategic oversight to ensure all games under the Take-Two umbrella have the best chance at success. The shift in *Borderlands 4*'s release date might reflect a strategic decision to avoid overlapping with GTA 6's launch.

With *Borderlands 4* set for September 12, it seems unlikely that GTA 6 would launch in the same month or in August. This leaves October, November, or December 2025 as potential release dates for GTA 6. However, this poses a risk of Take-Two's major titles cannibalizing each other's sales if released too closely together. Another 2K game, *Mafia: The Old Country*, is also scheduled for release in the summer of 2025, adding to the complexity of release timing.

In an interview conducted in February, IGN asked Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick about the potential risks of releasing major titles too close to each other. Zelnick emphasized that Take-Two plans its releases to minimize cannibalization, aiming to “respect the consumer's need to spend a lot of time playing these hit games before they go on to the next.” He stated, “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 all this speculation, there's also the possibility that GTA 6 might be delayed to early winter or into the first quarter of 2026. When asked about the confidence in meeting the fall 2025 release for GTA 6, Zelnick responded, “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.”