Following yesterday’s announcement by 2K Games that Mafia: The Old Country won’t be priced at $70, which is the standard for most AAA games nowadays, some might be wondering if the publisher’s other games will be following suit.
Is there a chance that 2K Games’ other major release of the year, Borderlands 4, is also cheaper? Unfortunately, that’s something not even Gearbox knows for now.
Borderlands 4 Price Still A Mystery
While Borderlands 4 is set to be released in September, not even Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford knows the game’s price. At PAX East, the studio boss was cornered about it (via GameSpot).
«I’ll tell you the truth, I don’t know….That is the truth,» Pitchford shared.
Pitchford added, «It’s an interesting time. On one level, we’ve got a competitive marketplace where people who make [pricing] choices want to sell as many units as possible and they want to be careful about people that are price-sensitive. «So there are some folks who don’t want to see prices go up, even the ones deciding what the prices are. There are other folks accepting the reality that game budgets are increasing and there are tariffs for the retail packaging. It’s getting gnarly out there.»
For Pitchford, the philosophy behind the price is making sure everyone feels like they got a good deal out of it. «We’re going to have a price set soon. It might be the new price that Nintendo and Microsoft have led with. It might be that we stay back. It’s going to be the people at the publishing house that decide that. We’ll know soon. I think it’s going to be fine, whatever the [price is]. It’s worth it.»
Regarding the development budget, Pitchford confirmed that Borderlands 4 has «more than twice» the budget of Borderlands 3. Given that, I would be shocked if Borderlands 4 wasn’t priced at $70. Hopefully, it doesn’t reach the $80 mark, since I feel that is a price point most gamers won’t be happy with.
Just a few weeks ago, Borderlands 4’s release date was moved up, which most people assumed was connected to Grand Theft Auto 6’s release. Since then, we know this isn’t the case, as GTA 6 has been confirmed for a May 2026 release, while Borderlands 4 fires out on Sept. 12 on the PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC.
Hopefully, this pricing conversation isn’t something we’ll need to ask for every game.
