Kicking off gamescom 2024 with a bang, Gearbox has announced Borderlands 4 during Opening Night Live. A teaser trailer confirmed a 2025 release window across PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S. Publisher 2K said Borderlands 4 launches in 2025 during parent company Take-Two's fiscal year 2026. That means it will launch at some point between April 2025 and the end of 2025. Here's the official blurb from 2K:
Gearbox is planning to launch Borderlands 4 sometime in 2025, the company announced at the Gamescom Opening Night Live show on Tuesday. The game is set to launch on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X / S.
The reveal trailer was pretty mysterious, and the trailer’s description on YouTube doesn’t offer much in the way of specifics, either. “In this next installment of the definitive looter shooter, players will assume the role of a legendary Vault Hunter as they blast their way through hordes of enemies in search of new treasures to loot on an all-new planet,” according to the description. At the very least, this new game seems like it will continue the legacy from other titles in the series.
The announcement follows the Borderlands movie’s generally poor reception and bad box office sales. Borderlands 3, the last mainline game in the franchise, launched in September 2019.
Borderlands 4: The Hype, the Hope and the History
The trailers of Gamescom 2024 want to be here with you, explained Keighley in his opening monologue. They are not directed at you. They are with you. That's lovely. Thanks videogames. And if - as we surely must - we judge the eagerness of these adverts to spend time with us by how quickly they appear on our screens, then FPS sequel Borderlands 4 surely loves us the most.
If you can tear yourself away from watching that bountiful snippet on repeat, here’s a Xitter post by Gearbox with the clip and a promised 2025 release date. “Watch it again (and again, and again)!” reads the post. I hope I don’t sound cynical when I say that, nah, I’m good actually. I got all the information I needed the first time.
We haven’t seen a new mainline series entry since Borderlands 3 in 2019, but the last game to bear the name was New Tales From The Borderlands. “This is my favourite game,” wrote Alice Bee (RPS in peace) in her review. “I cannot get over how good this is. I couldn’t stop laughing. It reminded me of my favourite author, Ernest Cline.” Strong praise, Alice. Strong praise.
New Planet, Same Explosions?
The definitive looter shooter arrives in 2025.
See if you have what it takes to go down in history as a legendary Vault Hunter as you search for secret alien treasure, blasting everything in sight.
The Borderlands 4 announcement comes on the heels of the Borderlands film starring Cate Blanchett recently bombing at the box office. But it appears that the Borderlands franchise itself is not deterred by the lukewarm reception to the movie.
The Future of Borderlands
It'll be interesting to see what Borderlands 4 has in store for the audience. Will players see any familiar faces throughout the game, or will it introduce entirely new characters for people to love and hate? If you're interested in learning more about Borderlands 4, make sure to wishlist it so you can keep up with any updates that may be announced.
Borderlands 4 - What We Know So Far
There isn't much information available besides the fact that the game will be released in 2025. Even the Steam page for the game is incredibly empty, prompting people to wishlist the game with a screenshot of the iconic helmet and the new planet you'll be exploring. The last main franchise game to be released in the Borderlands franchise was Borderlands 3, released in 2019. While plenty of people liked the game and gave it favorable reviews, there was also quite a bit of criticism released, with some even calling it "the best and worst of the franchise" due to how some of the enemies moved and interacted with the players.
Aside from Borderlands 3, the most recent addition to the franchise overall was Tiny Tina's Wonderlands, released in 2022. This game took a very different path to the usual Borderlands style. While it had the same comedy, the same kind of enemies, and the like, you had to build and customize your character using Dungeons and Dragons-style stats. Again, while most people who played the game favored it, they felt that the issues of Borderlands 3 had seeped into Tiny Tina's Wonderlands and made it less enjoyable overall. One of the significant flaws with Tiny Tina's Wonderlands was the reward system used, as it felt as if it didn't reward the player at all. The relevance of the tabletop game additions didn't make much sense, nor did it feel much like a tabletop game.
It's worth remembering that 2K Games parent company Take-Two Interactive revealed in March plans to acquire “Borderlands” maker Gearbox from Embracer Group for $460 million. As part of that deal, which closed in June, Take-Two got the rights to Gearbox IP, including “Borderlands,” “Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands,” “Homeworld,” “Risk of Rain,” “Brothers in Arms” and “Duke Nukem.”
At the time of the acquisition announcement, Gearbox teased it had six “key interactive entertainment projects in various stages of development,” which included five sequels, two from “Borderlands” and “Homeworld” universes, and at least one “exciting new intellectual property,” all of which have been acquired in the sale. Today’s reveal of “Borderlands 4” marks the first confirmation of one of those projects moving out of the development stage.
“The team and I at Gearbox have a lot we’ve wanted to do with ‘Borderlands’ since we first introduced the looter shooter genre to the world with our original game,” Gearbox founder and president Randy Pitchford said. “All of us at Gearbox have massive ambitions for ‘Borderlands 4’ and are putting everything we have into making everything we love about ‘Borderlands’ better than ever before while taking the game to new levels in exciting new directions.”
“We’re thrilled to be able to share with our fans that 2025 will mark a massive year for 2K and Gearbox Entertainment,” 2K core games senior vice president and general manager Catharina Lavers Mallet said. “The ‘Borderlands’ series is one of 2K’s most successful franchises ever and is beloved by millions globally. We’re excited that our already close partnership and collaboration with the Gearbox team has grown even deeper, and we look forward to delivering best-in-class experiences for both longtime fans and new players alike.”
