GTA 6 Has Nothing to Do with the Release Date Change of Borderlands 4, Says Gearbox
In response to growing speculation, Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford clarified that the delay of Borderlands 4‘s release date is only related to the team’s confidence in the game’s progress. He emphasized that the decision had nothing to do with external factors like the release of GTA 6.
Pitchford stated on X: “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 further explained, “Our decision is literally 0% about any other product’s actual or theoretical launch date.” Although Pitchford didn’t directly mention GTA 6, it’s clear that he was addressing the theory, as many have immediately linked the release date change to Rockstar’s upcoming game.
Speculation Around the Date Change
As we saw last night, Borderlands 4 had a release date change. The game’s launch has been moved earlier to September 12 from its previous date of September 23. This unusual move raised suspicions that Take-Two, the publisher of both Gearbox and Rockstar Games, might have made the decision to avoid clashing with the release of GTA 6, which is expected in the fall.
Pitchford’s statement seems to deny this theory. However, it was Strauss Zelnick, CEO of Take-Two, who previously mentioned that the company doesn’t want to release two big titles so close to each other, which adds some weight to the idea that the change could be connected to GTA 6.
Meanwhile, it was also announced that PlayStation’s State of Play event tonight at 11:00 PM will be fully focused on Borderlands 4, confirming the game is still a major upcoming release.
