Borderlands 4 has arrived with plenty of excitement, delivering the over-the-top action and humor the series is known for. However, alongside the praise, players have quickly noticed that the launch hasn’t been entirely smooth.
From PC to console, discussions around performance have started to dominate community conversations, raising questions about what’s really going on behind the scenes.
Borderlands 4 is now dominated by its performance issues. Gearbox founder Randy Pitchford sparked controversy by blaming outdated PC hardware and calling the game “a premium game made for premium gamers”.
Many interpreted this as advice telling struggling players to refund rather than expect fixes — a response that has intensified community backlash.
Importance: The performance issues highlight risks for Gearbox, including negative reviews, refund requests, and community backlash. They emphasize the need for urgent patches and careful messaging, as technical failures combined with dismissive responses can damage reputation and player trust.

Widespread Performance Issues In Borderlands 4
Since release, Borderlands 4 has reported performance issues across a wide range of systems: players described stutters, frame drops, and unstable framerates, even on high-end GPUs (reports cited cards like the RTX 4090 and newer series).
Some users meeting published minimums and recommended specs still struggled at 1080p or 1440p. Pitchford pointed to published system requirements and urged players to tweak settings — recommending 1440p as a practical compromise and suggesting refund for those unwilling to adjust.
Shifting Responsibility To Players
Critics argue that shifting responsibility to consumers ignores optimization problems (including alleged console memory-leak behavior that appears to worsen over long sessions), and that requiring DLSS/ frame-generation for acceptable performance feels like a band-aid.

The situation has translated into a noticeably mixed reception on platforms like Steam, where review scores have been hampered by technical complaints even though many players praise the game itself.
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