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

Gearbox's much-anticipated first-person shooter, Borderlands 4, is set to hit the shelves earlier than expected. Originally slated for a September 23 release, the game will now launch on September 12, as confirmed by Randy Pitchford, the head of development, in a video that inadvertently went live prematurely.

In the video, Pitchford shared his excitement: "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 enthusiasm, "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 event focused on Borderlands 4 is expected to be released soon.

The decision to move the release date forward has sparked speculation, particularly regarding its potential impact on the release schedule of Grand Theft Auto 6 (GTA 6). GTA 6, developed by Rockstar and also under the umbrella of Take-Two, is currently slated for a fall 2025 release on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S. The move of Borderlands 4 could be an attempt to avoid direct competition with GTA 6, which has a more ambiguous release window.

It's important to note that Borderlands 4 is published by 2K Games, a subsidiary of Take-Two, which also owns Rockstar. At the executive level, decisions are made with an overarching strategy to ensure the success of all titles. The earlier release of Borderlands 4 might be a strategic move to give it more breathing room before GTA 6's expected launch.

If Borderlands 4 launches on September 12, it effectively rules out a GTA 6 release in the same month or August. This opens up potential release windows for GTA 6 in October, November, or December 2025. However, this raises concerns about potential market cannibalization, especially with another 2K game, Mafia: The Old Country, scheduled for a summer 2025 release.

In an interview with IGN in February, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick addressed these concerns, stating that the company plans its releases to avoid cannibalization. He emphasized the importance of respecting consumer needs to spend significant time with each game before moving on to the next.

Zelnick 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 this strategic planning, there remains the possibility of GTA 6 being delayed into early winter or even 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."