Randy Pitchford, the development chief at Gearbox, has firmly denied that the decision to advance the release date of the highly anticipated co-op FPS, *Borderlands 4*, was influenced by the launch schedules of other games. Originally slated for September 23, *Borderlands 4* will now hit the shelves on September 12, available across PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and Nintendo Switch 2. This adjustment, which moved the game's release forward by 11 days, sparked rumors that it might be a strategic move to avoid competition with titles such as *Grand Theft Auto 6* (GTA 6) or Bungie's *Marathon*.

Speculation arose that the shift could be related to GTA 6, which is scheduled for a fall 2025 release, as both games are under the umbrella of Take-Two, the parent company of GTA developer Rockstar. Similarly, there was talk that *Borderlands 4* might have been repositioned to avoid clashing with *Marathon*, another co-op focused shooter set to launch on the same initial date of September 23, 2025. *Borderlands 4* is set to be featured in its own PlayStation State of Play broadcast today, April 30, at 2pm PT / 5pm ET / 11pm CEST.

However, Pitchford took to social media to clarify the situation, emphasizing that the decision to release *Borderlands 4* earlier was solely based on "confidence" in the game and its development progress. "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," he tweeted. He added that the decision was "literally 0% about any other product's actual or theoretical launch date."

The move to bring forward a game's release date is considered unusual in the industry, where delays are more common. Chris Dring, Editor-In-Chief and Co-Founder of The Game Business, expressed his skepticism about the reasons behind the shift, suggesting that there must be a strong commercial rationale for altering a well-publicized release date. "They’ve gone out with a date," Dring noted. "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 with evident excitement, stating that the development was going "kind of the best-case scenario" and that the team was "cooking." He announced, "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, which, along with Gearbox and the *Borderlands* IP, is owned by Take-Two. This same company also owns Rockstar, the developer behind GTA 6. At the executive level, including CEO Strauss Zelnick, there is likely a strategic overview of all game releases to maximize their success potential.

In a February interview with IGN, Zelnick discussed Take-Two's approach to game release timing, aiming to avoid cannibalization and respect consumer engagement with hit titles. 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 the speculation about *Borderlands 4*'s release shift, there's also talk about potential delays for GTA 6, which might slip into early winter or even the first quarter of 2026. Responding to inquiries about the confidence in meeting GTA 6's fall 2025 release, Zelnick said, "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."