Randy Pitchford: Borderlands 4's Early Release Not Tied to Other Game Launches

Randy Pitchford, the development chief at Gearbox, has firmly stated that the decision to advance the release date of the cooperative first-person shooter, *Borderlands 4*, was not influenced by the release schedules of other games. This clarification comes amidst rumors that the shift might have been a strategic move to avoid competition with titles like *Marathon* or *Grand Theft Auto 6*.

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. This 11-day advancement has fueled speculation that it might be a response to *GTA 6*'s anticipated launch in the fall of 2025, especially considering that both games are under the umbrella of Take-Two Interactive, the parent company of both Gearbox and Rockstar Games, the developer of *GTA 6*.

There were also whispers that *Borderlands 4* might have been rescheduled to avoid a direct clash with *Marathon*, another cooperative-focused shooter developed by Bungie, which is owned by Sony. Both games were initially set to launch on the same day, September 23, 2025. *Borderlands 4* is set to be showcased in a PlayStation State of Play broadcast on April 30 at 2pm PT / 5pm ET / 11pm CEST.

However, Pitchford took to Twitter to dispel these rumors, emphasizing that the decision to move *Borderlands 4*'s release date forward was purely based on "confidence" and the game's "development trajectory." He stated, "Borderlands 4 shipping early is 100% the result of confidence in the game and development trajectory backed by actual tasks and bug find/fix rates. Our decision is literally 0% about any other product’s actual or theoretical launch date."

While it's not uncommon for game release dates to be adjusted, moving a release date forward is less typical than delays. Chris Dring, Editor-In-Chief and Co-Founder of The Game Business, expressed skepticism about the move, tweeting, "They’ve gone out with a date. It’s on calendars, market materials, social assets... Put ‘Borderlands 4 release date’ into Google and it still says Sep 23. There’s surely got to be a good commercial reason to shift a date."

In a video message released early, Pitchford shared the news of the new release date with enthusiasm, saying, "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. What?! This never happens you guys! This never happens! We’re moving the launch date forward! You’re gonna get Borderlands 4 earlier!”

It's important to note that *Borderlands 4* is published by 2K Games, a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive, which also owns Gearbox and the *Borderlands* IP. Take-Two is also the parent company of Rockstar Games, the developer behind *GTA 6*. At the executive level, including CEO Strauss Zelnick, there is a comprehensive understanding of all the company's projects and a strategic approach to their release schedules to maximize success.

In an interview with IGN in February, Zelnick discussed Take-Two's strategy to avoid cannibalization of their game releases, 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 these discussions, there's also speculation about potential delays for *GTA 6*, possibly pushing its release into early winter or the first quarter of 2026. When asked about the confidence in meeting the fall 2025 release 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."