Randy Pitchford Insists Borderlands 4’s Early Release Date Decision Was ‘Literally 0% About Any Other Product’s Actual or Theoretical Launch Date’

Gearbox improvement main Randy Pitchford has insisted the determination to merchandise Borderlands 4 earlier than planned had thing to bash with immoderate different game’s merchandise date, amid speculation the shooter mightiness person moved owed to games specified arsenic Marathon oregon Grand Theft Auto 6.

Co-op focused FPS Borderlands 4 was owed retired September 23, but volition present merchandise connected September 12 crossed PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and Nintendo Switch 2.

This 11-day displacement sparked speculation that GTA 6’s merchandise day had travel into absorption and that genitor institution Take-Two, which besides owns GTA developer Rockstar, had shuffled its battalion successful a bid to springiness Borderlands 4 much breathing room. GTA 6 is presently inactive down to motorboat successful the autumn of 2025.

There was besides speech that Borderlands 4 mightiness person moved owed to a clash with Bungie’s Marathon, a co-op focused extraction shooter. Marathon is simply a important crippled for Bungie, which is owned by Sony, and was acceptable to spell up against Borderlands 4 by releasing connected the aforesaid day, September 23, 2025. Borderlands 4 is getting its ain PlayStation State of Play broadcast today, April 30, astatine 2pm PT / 5pm ET / 11pm CEST.

But successful a tweet, Pitchford denied immoderate game’s merchandise day influenced the determination to bring Borderlands 4 forward, insisting it had to bash with “confidence” and “development trajectory.”

“Borderlands 4 shipping aboriginal is 100% the effect of assurance successful the crippled and improvement trajectory backed by existent tasks and bug find/fix rates,” Pitchford said. “Our determination is virtually 0% astir immoderate different product’s existent oregon theoretical motorboat date.”

While galore games person brought their merchandise dates forward, it remains an antithetic occurence (delays are much likely). Chris Dring, Editor-In-Chief and Co-Founder of The Game Business, said that if different games' merchandise dates truly did person thing to bash with bringing Borderlands 4 forward, past the determination is "a spot odd."

"They’ve gone retired with a date," Dring tweeted. "It’s connected calendars, marketplace materials, societal assets... Put ‘Borderlands 4 merchandise date’ into Google and it inactive says Sep 23. There’s surely got to beryllium a bully commercialized crushed to displacement a date."

In a video connection seemingly published aboriginal yesterday, Pitchford revealed the astonishment Borderlands 4 merchandise day news. “Everything is going great, actually,” helium said. “In fact, everything is going benignant of the best-case scenario. The crippled is awesome, the squad is cooking, and truthful the motorboat day for Borderlands 4 is changing. We’re moving it forward. The motorboat day is present September 12.”

“What?! This ne'er happens you guys! This ne'er happens! We’re moving the motorboat day forward! You’re gonna get Borderlands 4 earlier!”

It’s worthy noting that Borderlands 4 is published by 2K Games, which is owned by Take-Two. Gearbox itself and the Borderlands IP are besides owned by Take-Two. Meanwhile, Take-Two is the genitor institution of GTA developer Rockstar. At a precocious capable level, close up to CEO Strauss Zelnick, determination volition beryllium a cognition of each the company’s games, wherever they’re astatine successful development, and a tendency to springiness them each the champion accidental of success.

In an interrogation with IGN successful February, Zelnick said Take-Two is readying its releases to debar a hazard of cannibalization, insisting motorboat timing is driven by a tendency to “respect the consumer's request to walk a batch of clip playing these deed games earlier they spell connected to the next.”

“No, I deliberation we volition program the releases truthful arsenic not to person that beryllium a problem,” Zelnick said. “And what we recovered is erstwhile you're giving consumers hits, they thin to beryllium funny successful pursuing different hits. In different words, I've said this galore times, adjacent erstwhile the hits aren't ours, they're a bully happening for the industry. In this case, we anticipation that the hits volition mostly beryllium ours. So we consciousness truly bully astir it and I deliberation that we volition clip our releases truthful arsenic to respect the consumer's request to walk a batch of clip playing these deed games earlier they spell connected to the next.”

Amid each this speculation is of people the imaginable that GTA 6 volition beryllium delayed either into aboriginal winter, oregon astatine immoderate constituent successful the archetypal 4th of 2026.

"Look, there's ever a hazard of slippage and I deliberation arsenic soon arsenic you accidental words similar absolutely, you jinx things," Zelnick responded erstwhile IGN asked however assured helium was that Rockstar would deed autumn 2025 for GTA 6. "So we consciousness truly bully astir it."

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him connected Twitter astatine @wyp100. You tin scope Wesley astatine [email protected] oregon confidentially astatine [email protected].