A few days ago, Borderlands 4 came out, and honestly, all did not go as planned. Almost immediately after the launch, players on the PC, PlayStation, and Xbox reported game crashing, lagging, and frame drops. It’s like all that reputation just fizzled out because it feels as if the game wasn’t fully baked yet.
I tried the game on PC, and yes, when it runs well, it looks great. The frame rate is jumping all over the place, though. Even with my settings lowered, I still get weird stutters and random slowdowns. Some people on the forums said it’s “poorly optimized,” and I understand that entirely. My machine can run so many heavy games without any issues, yet Borderlands 4 manages to make it hard for it.
Mainly, bad performance seems to be the issue, according to what I’ve been following on Reddit and X. Some high-end systems are also crashing more frequently, as are the older ones, but it’s even worse on older systems. A few have mentioned minor improvements from adjusting shadows and textures a little, but no significant difference was noted by the majority.
Console players don’t escape from this distress either. On PS5, a few people are talking about a memory leak issue, which basically causes the game to slow down to a crawl until they restart it. That can be annoying. Plus no FOV slider on PC, which doesn’t feel right for a first-person shooter at this point in 2025. You shouldn’t forget something so basic.
What really irks the fans, however, is the fact that earlier than planned, the game is launched. Gearbox said some months back that Borderlands 4 would come out earlier since things were going well. But now it somehow looks like they could have utilized more time to make some fine-tuning. One player even said, “It feels like the game needed a few more weeks in the oven,” and yep, I absolutely agree.
To add more drama, Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford didn’t really help with his comments made online. A phrase by him went like this in the ears of a singular fan: “PC gamers need to accept the reality of their hardware’s relationship with software,” much to the disappointment of many. Not that he’s completely incorrect, since not all systems would run the game perfectly, but it was meant to rub people the wrong way. Some fans even said his tweeting is just damaging his company’s image further.
It’s sad that way, but the Borderlands 4 game works for many good things. When the game runs fine, shooting feels tighter, controls are smoother, and its humor hits quite well compared to Borderlands 3. I like the fact that the over-the-top jokes were toned down this time, and more fun and clever writing took their place instead. The world design and loot system also feels improved, making exploring that much cooler.
If Gearbox can sweep away the bugs and improve performance, then once again, one can say Borderlands 4 will become an easy co-op shooter. The core gameplay is there; now it just requires optimization. Gearbox didn’t share a detailed roadmap of fixes, but I bet patches will come very soon.
We know other games that went from real ugly launch to glory. When it launched, none of the players could play Cyberpunk 2077, but today it is perhaps the best open-world shooter. Hate it or love it, No Man’s Sky redeemed itself after a not-so-promising start. So there’s still hope for Borderlands 4 to come roaring back.
If you don’t own it yet, maybe hang a bit before it gets patched. I plan to give it another go after the next patch, since I really want this game to succeed. Just needs a bit more polish to shine in the manner we all envisaged. You may also be interested in: Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines 2 – New Clans, New Hopes, and a Fair Comeback
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