S Poddar
The recent PlayStation State of Play event wasn’t exactly what left gamers speechless, consisting primarily of third-party, non-exclusives. Among them was Borderlands 4, which not only teased new gameplay but also nailed down its release date. With the game coming out in a mere seven months, any delay at this point would have to be last-minute.
What makes this release so fascinating is its ability to influence the launch window for Grand Theft Auto 6. Although it may not be so apparent at first, Borderlands 4’s announced date might give us a hint about when GTA 6 will finally release.
Borderlands 4 will be out on September 23, 2025. In the meantime, GTA 6 has long been promised to launch in the fall of 2025. Take-Two Interactive, the umbrella company that owns Rockstar Games, has made repeated promises to investors regarding this timeline and would not risk letting them down.
One of the major points to consider is that Take-Two recently purchased Gearbox from Embracer, which means Borderlands 4 belongs to them now. Although Borderlands has a loyal fan base and has been eagerly awaited for six years, it still fails to match the hype of GTA 6. Considering the grandeur of the release of GTA, releasing it too near the release of Borderlands 4 would certainly overshadow the latter.
This all but rules out September as a possible release period for GTA 6. Even if Rockstar was to try to release in early September, it would still hurt Borderlands 4’s performance. What is more likely is that GTA 6 will release in October, giving Borderlands 4 some space before the gaming world focuses its entire attention on Rockstar’s highly anticipated title.
A mid-to-late October release appears to be a fair estimate. This also narrows down the anticipated release window for GTA 6, from a three-month window to approximately a month and a half. December may probably be excluded, as the phrase “fall 2025” has been repeatedly employed instead of the more general “holiday season” or “fourth quarter.”
Competition-wise, Rockstar and Take-Two don’t have anything to worry about. GTA 6 doesn’t really have any competition; its launch will overshadow the gaming world no matter what else is released. The only reason Take-Two wouldn’t want a head-to-head battle with Borderlands 4 is that both titles belong to them, and they wouldn’t want their own bestseller to utterly overshadow another big release.
Even with the fall 2025 promise, there remains a residual chance that GTA 6 would slide into 2026. If that happened, Rockstar might still release the game ahead of the end of the fiscal year, and that could partially assuage investor worries. But since Take-Two insisted on its launch window for so long, it is most likely that gamers will finally be able to get their hands on GTA 6 during mid-October to late November 2025.
Though there is still much conjecture about the precise date, one thing is for sure—when GTA 6 releases, it will be the decade’s biggest gaming moment.
