Gearbox's Randy Pitchford says "sometimes we're white-knuckling to the landing," but with Borderlands 4 they've never "been in a better spot this far from launch"

Gearbox Software co-founder, Gearbox Entertainment CEO, and frequent magician Randy Pitchford has said Borderlands 4 is in a better position today than any other game in the series this far away from its release date.

Borderlands 4's release date was recently moved up to September 12, more than a week earlier than its original launch day of September 23, because the developer was apparently "cooking" and the game was already "awesome." Essentially, development was progressing smoothly and the game would've been ready earlier than expected anyway.

During a new PAX East panel, Randy Pitchford doubled down on that messaging. When asked about how Borderlands 4 was right now, he said the team is "on offense" and is very confident in the upcoming looter shooter.

"Like, look, sometimes we're white-knuckling to the landing, you know?" he said of some of their older games. "And we [have] got a lot of work to do - we're working our asses off, but the momentum is insane. The velocity is insane. I don't think we've ever been in a better spot this far from launch as we are right now with Borderlands 4. And I'm really stoked because I kind of need a game like this right now, you know? I kind of need this. So I'm stoked to play it."

Elsewhere in the panel, Pitchford said he wasn't sure if Borderlands 4 would follow Mario Kart World's lead and be $80 at launch. while also promising that players will be able to reach anything they see in the world, even if it's "a mile away, up in the sky."

Don't judge Borderlands 4's lack of minimap just yet - Gearbox boss says using it would be "extremely confusing" in the FPS' "big freaking world"