Borderlands release confirmed for October 23

2K Games has revealed that the Gearbox Software sci-fi action-RPG, Borderlands, will be released on October 20 in the US and October 23 across Europe, Australia and other territories.

This puts the game in stores only a week after Sony unleashes its PS3 exclusive action-adventure sequel, Uncharted 2 – confirmed for a US release on October 13, unconfirmed release date in Europe.

Speaking to GameSpot, 2K Games president Christoph Hartmann said that the prospect of releasing the new IP in such a busy release period does not faze the publisher – it’s a risk worth taking.

“I don’t think we have to be afraid of competition or shy of what’s out there,” said Hartmann. “I think this holiday season is a little bit lighter in triple-A games than last year. It’s actually a good holiday to put something out. … There’s always risk and opportunity. The risk is you have a hard time standing out against established IP. The opportunity is you have a lot of traffic here and it can be a much bigger product at retail than it would be otherwise.”

Borderlands had originally been scheduled for a late 2008 release, but slipped into 2009. Earlier this year, after a period in which nothing much was seen of the title, the game’s new visual style was shown off. Having spent some time with the game last month we were left rather impressed.