Borderlands 3 may launch September 13th according to deleted tweet
Random tweet drop rates are mad
April Fools silliness, or just a foolish slip-up? Hard to tell, but a message went out from Gearbox's official Borderlands 3 twitter account earlier that was swiftly deleted. "Mayhem is Coming September 13. Pre-order now for the Gold Weapon Skins Pack!" says the tweet, now archived on The Wayback Machine, so you can verify for yourself. Also tweeted was a new video containing the Epic Store logo in the bottom-left corner. It was captured by "Wario64" and embedded below. While not confirmation of exclusivity, it seems likely that the over-the-top loot n' shooter is headed to the new storefront.
Whether the dates and Epic store logo were intended for (later) release or not is debatable, so let's just assume they are for the sake of argument. There's also the possibility that the info was 'leaked' early and deleted to get people chatting over whether it's real or not. However you slice it, September 13th seems like a plausible date, well positioned to scoop up pre-holiday business and be discounted a little in time for the winter sales. As for the Epic store logo, it's no surprise that a game as large as Borderlands would appear on the new store.
If it does turn out to be an exclusive (timed or otherwise) it's because Epic offered more than whatever publisher 2K felt would be lost from Steam, and if not then it's just one more store to pick from. Personally, I wouldn't be too surprised to see it as a store exclusive, and one Epic would be eager to snap up. It's a well known series, a much-anticipated sequel and could well bring people to a new store. Either way, it's just speculation, but that release date sounds plausible enough to me.
In the meantime, don't forget that there are free HD remasters coming to the original three Borderlands games, if you're looking for an excuse to return. They launch Wednesday, April 3rd.