Following the announcement that Borderlands 4 was having its release date moved forward, and much speculation as to why this was happening, Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford has come forward to emphasise that this decision was made entirely due to Borderlands 4’s own merits, rather than an attempt to dodge competition from GTA6 or another big competitor.
Taking to Twitter, Randy Pitchford posted the following: “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. Our decision is literally 0% about any other product’s actual or theoretical launch date.”
Just to be clear, when Pitchford speaks about “theoretical” launch dates he’s refering to GTA6, which still hasn’t got a firm release date out there in the wild. This has resulted is some hesitancy from devs and publishers in actually placing down a release date in the fall season, as you could wake up one day and find your AAA release is now a few days out from the consumer black hole that is GTA6.
But let’s take Randy Pitchford at his word – why not? Let’s list out the pros of moving a release date forward. One, it’s a cool thing to do, and if you’re a Borderlands 4 fan it’s a great PR move. You get your fun game a bit sooner, who wouldn’t want that? Also, if Borderlands 4 really is shaping up exceptionally well in terms of late-stage goals and bug fixes, then hey, why not? It’s roughly two weeks of extra time that players will be able to jump in and enjoy Borderlands 4 before being tempted away by something else.
It’s also worth noting that early September is an open goal in terms of release windows. There’s not much at all currently announced for that portion of the year except for stuff like Terminator 2D: No Fate or Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion. Both of which might be amazing games, and I’m sure they are, but it’s not controversial to say that they won’t be eating up too much of the Borderlands audience. If Gearbox and Randy want to move the game forward just to get their cool new game in people’s hands earlier (which for what it’s worth is something I can imagine Randy earnestly wanting, to his credit), then it’s not as if Borderlands would be risking less sales by stepping on anyone’s turf here.
Cards on the table, I do still do believe there’s merit to the theory that Borderlands 4 may be dodging a big release like GTA6 by moving forward, but also I don’t think Randy is lying at all when he says the game’s moving forward due to confidence in the game and the work his team has done. Ultimately, even if this were an attempt to swerve away from competition, it’s not something that would be worth doing unless the game could release earlier in a polished state.
So there we have it, Randy’s stepped up and cleared the air. Whether you believe him or keep your tin foil hat on is up to you. No matter where you stand, you’ll be able to enjoy Borderlands 4 when it launches on September 12. You can also check out the Borderlands State of Play later today if you’re so inclined.
