If you’re a Borderlands fan who’s replayed Borderlands 3’s endgame content three times, run through every Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands DLC, and still quote Claptrap’s one-liners on a regular basis, you’re probably scouring every Gearbox social media post for the Borderlands 4 pre order date. We know how frustrating it is to wait for solid info, so we’ll update this guide every time new details about the Borderlands 4 pre order date drop. We’ve spent months tracking official developer comments, Take-Two earnings reports, and patterns from past Borderlands launches to put together this no-clickbait guide to everything you can expect when pre orders go live. We’re not here to sell you a fake pre order link or spread unsubstantiated rumors, just verified info and realistic predictions based on decades of covering AAA game launches.
What Official Sources Have Said About the Borderlands 4 Pre Order Date
Gearbox officially confirmed Borderlands 4 was in active development during PAX East 2024, where studio head Randy Pitchford called it the “largest, most chaotic Borderlands game we’ve ever built.” They didn’t share a hard launch date or pre order timeline during that announcement, but we can draw clear conclusions from past franchise launches and official financial disclosures. Take-Two Interactive, Gearbox’s parent company, listed an unannounced “high-profile first-person shooter franchise entry” in its 2025 fiscal year release slate, which lines up almost perfectly with what we know about Borderlands 4’s development progress.
For context, every mainline Borderlands game has opened pre orders 3 to 6 months before its official launch date, usually immediately after a full 10+ minute gameplay reveal. Based on that pattern, if the 2025 fiscal year launch window holds, we can expect pre orders to go live sometime between late Q4 2024 and early Q1 2025. No official pre order listings are live on Steam, Epic Games Store, PlayStation Store, or Xbox Store as of this writing, so any site claiming otherwise is not legitimate. I covered the Borderlands 3 launch back in 2019, and Gearbox never drops pre order access without first showing raw, unedited gameplay to fans, so don’t waste your time on random third-party listings right now. Even if the Borderlands 4 pre order date gets pushed back a few months, it’s better to wait for a polished final product than to play a buggy, unfinished game at launch.
Expected Pre Order Tiers and Exclusive Bonuses
Gearbox has stuck to a pretty consistent pre order tier structure for every Borderlands release over the past 10 years, so we can make extremely accurate predictions about what will be available when pre orders go live. None of these are confirmed yet, but they align exactly with what was offered for Borderlands 3, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, and all post-launch DLC for those titles. When the Borderlands 4 pre order date drops, you’ll be able to choose between three main tiers, just like with past launches.
- Standard Edition: The base game only, priced at $69.99 for all platforms. Pre orders of the standard edition almost always come with a free exclusive legendary weapon skin and early access to a rare vault hunter class mod that gives a small boost to XP gains for the first 10 hours of gameplay.
- Deluxe Edition: Priced at $89.99, this tier includes the base game, the full first season pass (usually 4 large story DLC packs and 2 endgame content updates), exclusive vault hunter skins and weapon cosmetics, a digital art book and official soundtrack, and 72 hours of early access to the full game before the global launch date.
- Collector’s Edition: Usually priced between $199.99 and $249.99, this limited-run tier includes all Deluxe Edition content plus physical merch. Past collector’s editions have included Claptrap statues, physical cloth maps of the playable world, vinyl soundtracks, enamel pin sets, and a limited-edition in-game title that can’t be earned through any other method after launch.
If you only plan to play through the main story once and don’t care about post-launch content, the Standard Edition is more than enough to get your money’s worth. But if you’re the type of player who sinks 100+ hours into Borderlands endgame content, runs co-op missions with friends every weekend, and wants to experience all the new story DLC as it drops, the Deluxe Edition almost always pays for itself within the first year of release. Early access is limited exclusively to digital pre orders of the Deluxe and Collector’s Editions, so physical copies won’t let you play ahead of the global launch date, even if you pay for the higher tier.
How to Avoid Scams While Waiting for Pre Orders to Go Live
High-demand AAA game launches always bring out scammers looking to take advantage of excited fans, and Borderlands 4 will be no exception. Over the past few months, we’ve already seen dozens of fake listings pop up on third-party marketplaces and fake social media accounts claiming to sell early pre order access for discounted prices. Following these simple rules will keep you from wasting money or losing your account info to scammers.
First, only buy pre orders from official, verified storefronts. That includes the PlayStation Store, Xbox Store, Steam, Epic Games Store, and authorized major retailers like Amazon, GameStop, and Best Buy. Second, never click links in random DMs or comment sections claiming to give you early access to pre orders. These are almost always phishing links designed to steal your platform account credentials or credit card info. Third, if a listing is priced significantly lower than the standard $69.99 for a new AAA game, it’s a scam. No legitimate retailer will discount a brand new Borderlands game before it even launches. Any site asking for your credit card info to “reserve” a copy before the official pre order date is operating illegally and will not send you a valid game key.
Gearbox will announce the official pre order date first on its official X (Twitter) account and its official website, so turn on post notifications for those accounts if you want to get the news as soon as it drops. You won’t have to pay anything until the official Borderlands 4 pre order date is announced, so don’t let any site pressure you into putting down a deposit early. I saw hundreds of fans lose $50+ to fake Borderlands 3 pre order scams back in 2018, so it’s always better to wait for official confirmation than to jump on a too-good-to-be-true deal.
Factors That Could Shift the Pre Order Timeline
While our current prediction for the pre order launch window is based on solid data, there are a handful of factors that could push that date earlier or later than expected. Game development is unpredictable, especially for large open-world games with as much randomized content, co-op functionality, and post-launch support planned as Borderlands 4.
The most common reason for a pre order delay is a full game launch delay. If Gearbox announces that it needs extra time to polish gameplay, fix bugs, or add extra content before launch, the pre order date will be pushed back to match the new launch timeline. Another factor is Gearbox’s marketing plan. If the studio decides to show more gameplay footage or reveal extra vault hunter classes before opening pre orders to build more hype, that could push the pre order launch back a few weeks. It’s also possible that pre orders go live on some storefronts a day or two before others, but that’s extremely rare for major cross-platform AAA releases. Collector’s Edition stock is almost always limited to between 10,000 and 50,000 units globally, so they usually sell out within 24 hours of pre orders going live. If you’re set on grabbing a Collector’s Edition, you’ll want to have your payment info saved to your preferred retailer’s account ahead of time so you can check out as soon as listings go up.
If you’re worried about missing the pre order launch, you can sign up for Gearbox’s official Borderlands newsletter to get a direct email alert as soon as the Borderlands 4 pre order date is announced. The newsletter also occasionally includes exclusive behind-the-scenes content and giveaways for franchise fans, so it’s worth signing up even if you don’t plan to pre order immediately.
At the end of the day, we’re just as excited as you are to see the official Borderlands 4 pre order date drop, and we’ll update this post the second Gearbox makes any official announcement. Until then, stick to official sources, don’t fall for obvious scams, and feel free to drop a comment below letting us know which pre order tier you’re planning to grab. If you want to pass the time until launch, you can always go back to Borderlands 3 and grind for that missing legendary weapon you’ve been chasing for months. You don’t need to rush to put money down the second pre orders go live unless you’re aiming for a limited Collector’s Edition, since standard and deluxe copies almost always stay in stock for months after launch.