- Borderlands 4, the highly-anticipated co-op looter shooter from Gearbox Software, has launched on Windows PC and will soon arrive on consoles.
- Despite climbing the Steam charts with nearly 200,000 concurrent players, the game currently holds a “Mixed” rating on the platform, with only 49% of its 1,819 user reviews being positive.
- The primary issue facing Borderlands 4 appears to be significant performance problems on the PC, including low framerates, severe framerate drops, stutters in open world zones, and crashes.
- Many users have reported difficulties even starting the game past its main menu.
One user review states, “None of my friends can get the game to start past the main menu… It doesn’t matter how good the game is. AAA devs deserve low reviews on their games until they learn to release working titles.”
- These performance problems stand in contrast to the generally favorable reviews from press and media outlets, where Borderlands 4 currently holds an 84/100 score on Metacritic.
- Despite the technical flaws, many reviewers praise the game’s refined controls, quality-of-life improvements, a seamless open-world map, and a vast array of unique and powerful weapons.
- Players’ frustrations are palpable, but reviews indicate that behind the technical issues, there is a potentially excellent game waiting to be enjoyed once these problems are resolved.
- The developers at Gearbox Software will need to address these concerns swiftly to improve the game’s standing and meet player expectations.
Borderlands 4 is available on Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, Nintendo Switch 2, and PS5 for $69.99. Early buyers of the PC version can benefit from a discount that lowers its price, making it a more attractive purchase despite the launch-day issues.
The bottomline: While Borderlands 4 has the potential to be the best game in the series, its current technical shortcomings have led to a mixed reception at launch. Fans and new players alike are hoping for prompt patches to address these issues.
What’s next: Gearbox posted a Borderlands 4 Nvidia Optimization guide, advising players on how to optimize their graphics settings for better performance and framerates on PC using the Nvidia app. They also advised players to keep playing for at least 15 minutes after changing any graphics settings to allow shaders to recompile and see how their PC’s performance has changed.
Recent from X
It's an all-out war on Kairos. You ready? 😈
Check out the Borderlands 4 Official Cinematic Launch Trailer pic.twitter.com/FjNqFVILmz
— 2K (@2K) September 11, 2025
Get ready to fight 💥
Borderlands 4 launches in 2 days pic.twitter.com/XwBnxvw3Ax
— 2K (@2K) September 10, 2025
Is this the “If you play on PC, performance will suck, sorry” post before the game is out. Hard pass for me until patches, I guess. Too bad. https://t.co/ucHlzzOE8h
— Mike Ybarra 😇 (@Qwik) September 9, 2025
It’s a cookie! Patricia, who takes care of us in the office, brought these Borderlands 4 cookies into our launch war room! pic.twitter.com/qdAlAfNNqu
— Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) September 11, 2025