Like so many other Unreal Engine 5 games released this year, Borderlands 4 is now out, and it's plagued with performance issues.
As Beautiful Light director Eric Rajot pointed out, it is more the fault of the developers for poor optimization than of the engine itself. Games like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Marvel Rivals, and Silent Hill 2 Remake don't have it that bad.
Borderlands 4: Primordial Guardian Inceptus Boss Guide
Primordial Guardian Inceptus is the first major vault monster you can find in Borderlands 4, and he is locked away in the Fadefields.
At the time of writing this article, Borderlands 4 has Mixed reviews on Steam, with several users complaining about how badly the game runs. But what has the community even more riled up is Randy Pitchford's response, when an X user suggested that it would have been better if the game had been built for the most common hardware.
Randy Pitchford Deflects Borderlands 4's Poor Optimization On "Too Old PC Hardware"
In a recent X (formerly Twitter) post, Randy posted about how "through settings tweaks only" it is possible to "climb up to 120fps + on PC in BL4 with three and four year old hardware." User Ranting Monkey replied, "What 3 and 4 year old hardware? What were the specs? It's great you're offering help. Woulda been better to build it for the most common hardware in the first place."
Instead of acknowledging the problem, here is what Pitchford had to say: "The minimum and recommended specs are published. The most common hardware is a four year old cell phone."
Borderlands 4 is a premium game made for premium gamers.
—Randy Pitchford
The director doubled down, stating that "just as Borderlands 4 cannot run on a PlayStation 4, it cannot be expected to run on too-old PC hardware. Unlike on PlayStation and Xbox, we cannot prevent a PC player with sub optimal hardware for the game try to play it. So some try and get mad."
Despite acknowledging there are "actual issues we need to fix," Pitchford says players "need to learn how their PC’s work at the high end for this specific game in 2025 and use the tools available to them to find the right balance between frame rate, resolution, and graphics features."
The tone-deaf rant continues, saying that Borderlands 4 "is not a game made to run on 10 year old PC’s - this game uses the full capabilities of modern bus, CPU, and GPU. If you’re trying to drive a monster truck with a leaf blower’s motor, you’re going to be disappointed."
The closing statement shares the same sentiment, recommending players who "can’t run the game well by accident or wishful thinking and/or don’t want to try to mess with settings to make things good enough" to "use the refund feature on Steam rather than have a subpar experience."
X user Fallen pointed out that it isn't the 10-year-old PCs, but how the game struggles even on mainstream GPUs like the RTX 3060 and 4060. Another user, corpsepainttwink, made a good argument about "PC components released 2021 and onward should be able to enjoy a stable 1080p60fps experience without hitches," after comparing it to PS5, which is a 5-year-old console now.
Borderlands 4: Idolator Sol Boss Guide
Idolator Sol is the first big bad boss you will fight in Borderlands 4, and he won't go down easily. Here is how to bring down this massive brute.
There are many more such comments mentioning how, even on the latest hardware, the game seems to be struggling for them.
Sadly, this isn't the first time Randy has responded to criticism about the game in such a manner. Not too long ago, before the game's release, a fan commented that "this game better not be 80 dollars" on his post about confirming the game for Switch 2. To which he replied, "A) Not my call. B) If you’re a real fan, you’ll find a way to make it happen."
Hopefully, the Borderlands 4 developers take a page out of Konami's book with how consistently they are releasing patches to improve Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater. They already have a post-launch roadmap ready for upcoming content; all they need is to improve the game's performance, and the players should stick around.
Borderlands 4 Review
This amazing and ambitious addition to the beloved looter shooter franchise may be the best entry yet.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 82/100 Critics Rec: 87%
- Released
- September 12, 2025
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact
- Developer(s)
- Gearbox Software
- Publisher(s)
- 2K
- Engine
- Unreal Engine 5
- Multiplayer
- Online Co-Op, Local Co-Op
- Cross-Platform Play
- Full
- Prequel(s)
- Borderlands 3, Borderlands 2, Borderlands
- Franchise
- Borderlands
- Number of Players
- 1-4 players
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- Verified
- PC Release Date
- September 12, 2025
- Xbox Series X|S Release Date
- September 12, 2025
- PS5 Release Date
- September 12, 2025
- Nintendo Switch 2 Release Date
- October 3, 2025
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC
- X|S Optimized
- Yes
- Local Co-Op Support
- Console-only
- OpenCritic Rating
- Strong
