Gearbox Update May Shed Light on Borderlands 4 Release Date

Gearbox is best known for the Borderlands series, which it's the developer of. It's not just a developer of Borderlands though. It's made other games as well, though besides Brothers in Arms, many of these other games have ranged from underwhelming to major failures. It's also now publishing games. In recent years, the latter business has produced Godfall, Risk of Rain 2, We Happy Few, and more. Nothing it's done though has been able to rival the success of what Borderlands has provided the studio. Without Borderlands, Gearbox doesn't have a ton of value. Its parent company, Embracer, is trying to change this though by investing heavily in the company. 

A recent earnings call out of Embracer has revealed that across its developing and publishing businesses, Gearbox will release not one, not two, but 10 games by 2026. And not just any ol' games, but AAA games. Now, this seems unrealistic considering as a publisher Gearbox has yet to publish a proper AAA game. And there's no way it's going to release a huge amount of AAA games before 2026 as a developer. That said, this is the language Embracer uses. 

It's safe to assume Borderlands 4 is part of these 10 games. It has to be. If it is, it would mean Borderlands 4 will be out by 2026. This could mean it's out next year or right at the buzzer. For what it's worth, seven years separated the release between Borderlands 2 and Borderlands 3. If the same happens with Borderlands 3 and Borderlands 4, the fourth mainline game in the series will hit 2026 on the nose. 

For now, all of this is speculation, so take it with a grain of salt. None of the implicated parties have commented on any of this speculation, and it's highly unlikely this will change. However, if it does change, we will be sure to update the story accordingly. Meanwhile, and as always, feel free to share your thoughts and hot-takes in the comments section or, alternatively, hit me up on Twitter @Tyler_Fischer_ and let me know over there.