Borderlands 4 is releasing over a week earlier than expected because "the game is awesome, the team is cooking," and its own dedicated State of Play is coming up "imminently"

This is not a drill – Borderlands 4's release date just got altered, but in the best way possible for fans. Gearbox's next instalment is now launching over a week earlier than previously announced.

As revealed in a video from Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford today (which was swiftly deleted, but is apparently being reposted soon), Borderlands 4 is now set to release on September 12 – a whole 11 days sooner than its old September 23 launch date.

Pitchford teases that "everything's going kinda the best-case scenario. The game is awesome, the team is cooking," hence why it'll end up being in our hands sooner than expected.

"This never happens you guys, this never happens! We're moving the launch date forward! You're gonna get Borderlands 4 earlier!" Pitchford continues.

The Gearbox CEO also notes that the previously-announced Borderlands 4 deep dive State of Play is "coming up imminently," so it sounds like we won't have to wait long for that.

"It's gonna be awesome, we show you more about the game than you've ever seen before. And we are pumped," Pitchford adds, asking fans to look to Sony and 2K's own channels for details. At the time of writing, nothing has been posted there just yet, but we'll be sure to keep an eye on things.

So, be honest, how many of you thought Pitchford's news was going to be a Borderlands 4 delay at first? Given that his tweet said that "we have to move the launch date," it wasn't looking too good at first, but this is certainly a welcome surprise.

Borderlands 4 is coming to PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and even Switch 2.

Gearbox didn't set out to create an open-world game with Borderlands 4, but the FPS does have "open-world-like features, such as seamless travel between zones."