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

Gearbox's highly anticipated first-person shooter, *Borderlands 4*, is set to hit the shelves 11 days earlier than originally planned. This exciting news was confirmed by Gearbox's development chief, Randy Pitchford, in a video that seems to have gone live ahead of schedule.

Originally slated for a September 23 release, *Borderlands 4* will now launch on September 12 across multiple platforms, including PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and Nintendo Switch 2.

In the video, Pitchford enthusiastically shared, “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 couldn't contain his excitement, exclaiming, “What?! This never happens you guys! This never happens! We’re moving the launch date forward! You’re gonna get *Borderlands 4* earlier!”

Additionally, Pitchford mentioned that the eagerly awaited PlayStation State of Play focused on *Borderlands 4* is set to be released very soon.

The decision to advance the release date of *Borderlands 4* has sparked speculation about its timing in relation to the highly anticipated *Grand Theft Auto 6* (GTA 6), which is currently scheduled for a fall 2025 release on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S. Given the vague release window of GTA 6, it’s possible that *Borderlands 4* is being moved to provide it with more breathing room in the market.

It's important to note that *Borderlands 4* is published by 2K Games, a subsidiary of Take-Two, which also owns Rockstar, the developer behind GTA 6. At the executive level, including CEO Strauss Zelnick, there is likely a strategic approach to managing the release schedules of all the company's games to maximize their success. It's conceivable that recent clarity on GTA 6’s release date influenced the decision to move *Borderlands 4* up by nearly two weeks.

With *Borderlands 4* set to launch on September 12, it seems unlikely that GTA 6 will be released in the same month or in August. This leaves October, November, or December 2025 as potential release months for GTA 6. However, there's a risk that Take-Two might inadvertently cause its major 2025 titles to compete against each other if released too close together. Another game to consider is *Mafia: The Old Country*, another 2K title scheduled for a summer 2025 release.

In a February interview, IGN posed the question of potential cannibalization to Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick. Zelnick assured that Take-Two is planning its releases carefully to avoid such risks, emphasizing that the timing is designed to respect consumers' need to spend ample time with each hit game before moving 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... 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 remains the possibility that GTA 6 might face delays, potentially shifting its release to early winter or even into the first quarter of 2026. When asked about the confidence in hitting 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.”