On Wednesday, Sony hosted their first State of Play presentation of 2025. The event was packed with announcements - both of completely new games and updates on hotly anticipated titles. One of these anticipated titles covered during the State of Play was none other than Gearbox & 2K's Borderlands 4.
Borderlands fans have followed vault hunters through encounters with cult members, rival vault hunters, evil corporations, and sirens throughout the franchise since 2009. (Wow, definitely makes me feel my age.) Many big fans of the Borderlands franchise have even played the (in my opinion very enjoyable) Tell Tale Games spin-off series, which focuses more heavily on story, branching decisions, and characters who maybe aren't your typical Borderlands protagonists. Some of us may have even spent 101 minutes to see a celebrity-packed live-action spectacle released under the Borderlands name.
Luckily it looks like fans should get that time back and then some, as the fourth installment of the main line franchise appears to be setting the stage for more of Borderlands' familiar trademark vibe, as new gameplay footage showed off flashy cell-shaded characters... oh and guns, guns, and more guns. Like more guns than previous Borderlands installments...which is quite the feat if true. I for one can say I don't think I'm alone in my excitement for Borderlands to return to its original format- RPG video games.
Randy (Pitchford) and Randy (Varnell) of Gearbox were present for the State of Play to give us an update on Borderlands 4, setting high expectations and revealing that there will be a dedicated State of Play for Borderlands 4 specifically, to be held at a TBD date in the Spring.
But the biggest piece of new info given to us during the State of Play was without a doubt the reveal of an actual release date, which came at the end of the Borderlands portion of coverage. Borderlands 4 now has an official anticipated release date of September 23, 2025! This is a worldwide release date that includes release on Playstation, Xbox Series X, and Microsoft Windows. That gives me plenty of time to put in that PTO request!
This is actually the 1st time I'm learning about the Borderlands 4 announcement. I'll be sharing this article w/ all the fans I know bc this is big news!