Gearbox boss responds to rumors GTA 6 changed the Borderlands 4 release date

Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford has put to bed rumors the new release date for Borderlands 4 was influenced by the release of Grand Theft Auto 6.

Gearbox boss responds to rumors GTA 6 changed the Borderlands 4 release date
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Tech and Science Editor
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TL;DR: Gearbox director Randy Pitchford confirmed that Borderlands 4’s new September 12 release date is driven by development confidence, not competition with Grand Theft Auto 6. Despite industry speculation and Take-Two’s cautious scheduling, the earlier launch reflects strong progress in bug fixes and game readiness.

Randy Pitchford, the director of Gearbox, the developers of the Borderlands franchise, has put to bed rumors that the rescheduled release date for Borderlands 4 has been influenced by the release dates of other games, particularly Grand Theft Auto 6.

It was only recently that Gearbox announced it will be teaming up with PlayStation for a special showcase of Borderlands 4, and that it will be moving the scheduled release date of the game by 11 days to September 12. The original release date of September 23, and now the switch to the current release date of September 12 has sparked a tyriad of rumors about why Gearbox has decided to release the game early, with many of those rumors and online chatter pointing to Gearbox wanting to dodge the release date of other titles such as Grand Theft Auto 6 to give Borderlands 4 the best chance of commercial success.

However, that simply isn't the case, or at least according to Pitchford, who recently took to X, formerly Twitter, to put the rumors to bed. Pitchford said the new release date for Borderlands 4 has nothing to do with the release date of any other game, and the decision to ship the game early is "100% the result of confidence in the game and development trajectory backed by actual tasks and bug find/fix rates."

The rumors aren't total online conjecture, as the publisher of the Borderlands and Grand Theft Auto franchises, Take-Two Interactive, previously stated it wouldn't release GTA 6 close to Borderlands. This conjecture about Borderlands' release date being influenced by the release of GTA 6 was also bolstered by a recent report from The Game Business which stated many publishers are prepared to move the release date of their titles to avoid being swallowed by GTA 6, which industry analysts are pegging as the biggest entertainment release of 2025.