I Have Higher Hopes For GTA 6’s Launch After Borderlands 4 Release Date Change -

The recent changes to Borderlands 4‘s launch date could be good news for Grand Theft Auto 6. Although GTA 6‘s alleged fall 2025 release date is only months away, we still haven’t heard anything more from Rockstar on its official launch. Rumors of release date teases, and even potential delays, have become near-constant as fan excitement for the year’s biggest release builds to a fever pitch.

But another game under the Take-Two Interactive umbrella, Borderlands 4, also recently made changes to its intended release date. It could be entirely unrelated – lots of games, especially big triple-A releases like Borderlands, get their launch dates shuffled around all the time. But this could also be meaningful for GTA 6‘s release date.

Borderlands 4 Might Be Dodging GTA 6

Take-Two Could Be Avoiding Competition

Gearbox Software CEO Randy Pitchford recently announced via X (formerly Twitter) that Borderlands 4 would be releasing earlier than expected, now coming out on September 12 instead of September 23. The announcement coincides with Borderlands‘ scheduled appearance at the PlayStation State of Play on April 30, where we’ll likely learn more about the upcoming sequel.

Now, again, games change their release dates all the time for all sorts of reasons: production delays, beta testing feedback, licensing issues, staffing changes, et cetera, et cetera. However, most of these reasons would only cause a game’s release date to be pushed back; it’s exceedingly rare for a game to be released earlier than it was originally intended, even if development is done early.

GTA 6 Should Absolutely Revisit These 10 Fantastic Grand Theft Auto Missions

With a return to Vice City, there are a host of great missions that Grand Theft Auto 6 can revisit, either as sequels or updating classic concepts.

There are only a couple of reasons that a game’s release date might be moved up. New console releases will sometimes see games out earlier than intended so that they can serve as launch titles, but since we already know Borderlands 4 will be on the Switch 2, which comes out several months before the game, that’s not the likely culprit here. Far more plausible is that Borderlands 4 is trying to avoid competition from a similarly massive release, namely GTA 6.

Gearbox and Rockstar are both owned by Take-Two Interactive, so it’s entirely possible that Pitchford (or whoever was directly responsible for this decision) is aware of GTA 6‘s impending release date. Even if they’re not, it is known that GTA 6 is expected to be released this fall, and will likely draw lots of attention from other releases around the same time. It wouldn’t be out of the question for them to have moved Borderlands 4 up so as to prevent undue competition between the two games.

GTA 6’s Fall Release Window Still Has No Details

What We Do & Don’t Know

We still have no idea exactly when GTA 6 will be released, although we know that Rockstar is targeting the fall. The release window was first announced during Take-Two’s annual earnings call, the first major GTA 6 announcement since the initial trailer reveal, and still the most recent news we have regarding GTA 6‘s release. This silence is a deliberate strategy to create anticipation, as stated by Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick.

Borrowing RDR2’s Most Life-Like Feature Would Make GTA 6 Way More Dynamic

One of Red Dead Redemption 2’s best qualities was its life-like world, and one of its key features could be used to make GTA 6 more immersive.

However, rumors of a delay have been circulating. While they’re based more on general industry knowledge than any kind of insider information, it’s certainly possible that GTA 6 has been or is about to be delayed internally, and Rockstar is simply waiting for the right time to announce it – but that’s neither been confirmed nor denied.

When GTA 6 Might Be Releasing

A Theory Based On Borderlands

Jason, Lucia, and two of the social media screenshots from GTA 6's trailer. — Custom Image by Lee D’Amato

I’ve long since been a proponent of an early-mid-fall release for GTA 6. From how Take-Two’s scheduled releases were listed during its earnings call, it only seemed to make sense. Plus, mid-fall means there’ll be sufficient supply, but no less excitement around the game as the holiday shopping season begins.

Borderlands 4‘s recent push only seems to confirm that. My guess is that Gearbox wants at least a month’s distance from GTA 6, which its initial September 23 release date wouldn’t provide. So a mid-late October release would make a lot of sense; it’d put it firmly within the stated release window, give it enough time to avoid conflict with Borderlands, and keep it fresh in people’s minds as they begin their holiday shopping.

GTA6 Imagery and character with question marks

With Months Until Release, New GTA 6 Leak Pretty Much Answers The Game’s Biggest Question

A potential Grand Theft Auto 6 leak reveals some information that hints at an answer to one of the game’s biggest questions, if it is actually true.

But ultimately, this all relates back to privileged information that only insiders at Rockstar know. The rest of us can only speculate as to Grand Theft Auto 6‘s release date, and whether it actually relates to Borderlands 4‘s new release date – barring any official announcement, only time will tell whether this theory has merit.

Source: Randy Pitchford/X