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

Randy Pitchford, the head of development at Gearbox, has firmly denied that the decision to advance the release date of the cooperative FPS, *Borderlands 4*, was influenced by the release schedules of other titles like *Marathon* or *Grand Theft Auto 6*. Originally set 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.

The adjustment of the release date by 11 days has fueled speculation that it was a strategic move to avoid competition with *Grand Theft Auto 6*, which is slated for a fall 2025 release. Both *Borderlands 4* and *GTA 6* are published under the umbrella of Take-Two Interactive, which also owns Rockstar Games, the developer of *GTA 6*. Similarly, there was talk about a potential clash with Bungie's *Marathon*, another cooperative extraction shooter planned for the same initial release date of September 23, 2025.

However, Pitchford took to Twitter to clarify the situation, emphasizing that the decision to move *Borderlands 4* forward was solely 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 announced 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. Additionally, Take-Two is the parent company of Rockstar Games, developers of *GTA 6*. At the executive level, including CEO Strauss Zelnick, there is oversight of all game projects to ensure each has the best opportunity for success.

In a February interview with IGN, Zelnick discussed Take-Two's strategy for game releases, aiming to avoid cannibalization by spacing out launch dates. He explained, "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... 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*, with possibilities of it shifting to early winter or the first quarter of 2026. Zelnick, when questioned about the confidence in hitting the fall 2025 target for *GTA 6*, cautiously 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."