Borderlands 4 Launch Date Moved Up: Implications for GTA 6 Release?

Gearbox’s highly anticipated first-person shooter, *Borderlands 4*, is set to arrive earlier than originally scheduled. As revealed by Gearbox founder Randy Pitchford in a video that appeared online ahead of its official release, the game will now launch on September 12, 2025—nine days earlier than its previously announced September 23 release date. The game is slated to be available on PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2.

In the video, Pitchford expressed enthusiasm about the game's development progress, 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 confirmed that an upcoming PlayStation State of Play presentation dedicated to *Borderlands 4* is expected to air soon, offering fans a deeper look at what’s to come.

While the early release is exciting news for fans, speculation has arisen as to whether this change was made in response to the anticipated release of *Grand Theft Auto 6*, which remains scheduled for a fall 2025 window on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. Releasing just weeks apart could pose a challenge for both titles, especially considering *GTA 6*’s massive global following and potential market dominance.

It’s worth noting that *Borderlands 4* is published by 2K Games, a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive—the same parent company behind Rockstar Games, the developer of *GTA 6*. At the executive level, including CEO Strauss Zelnick, there is likely a strategic awareness of how each title’s release date may impact the others. It's possible that recent clarity around *GTA 6*’s timeline influenced the decision to move *Borderlands 4* forward, giving it more visibility before Rockstar’s flagship title launches.

With *Borderlands 4* now set for September 12, it seems unlikely that *GTA 6* would launch within the same month, pushing its potential release window further into October, November, or even December 2025. However, launching major titles too close together carries the risk of internal competition—sometimes referred to as “cannibalization”—where one game may overshadow another despite both being high-profile releases.

When questioned about this during a February interview, Zelnick assured that Take-Two is carefully planning its release calendar to avoid such conflicts, emphasizing the importance of giving players time to fully experience each title before the next arrives. “No, I think we will plan the releases so as not to have that be a problem,” he said. “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.”

Still, uncertainty remains around *GTA 6*’s exact release date. While Rockstar and Take-Two remain confident in hitting the fall 2025 window, delays into early 2026 are not out of the question. As Zelnick acknowledged, “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.”