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The Borderlands franchise has always thrived on chaos—both in-game and out. With the launch of Borderlands 4, Gearbox Software promised a fresh start: new planet, new Vault Hunters, new tone. But what began as a triumphant return quickly spiraled into a performance controversy, with CEO Randy Pitchford stepping into the fire with unapologetic candor.
A New World, A Familiar Boom
Set six years after Borderlands 3, the fourth installment drops players onto Kairos, a fractured planet ruled by a cybernetic dictator known as the Timekeeper. The game introduces four new Vault Hunters—Harlowe, Vex, Amon, and Rafa—who join the Crimson Resistance to liberate Kairos and uncover its secrets.
Critics largely praised the narrative shift. The tone balances humor and gravity better than Borderlands 3, and the final act is hailed as some of the best writing in franchise history. The open-zone format, reminiscent of Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, allows players to tackle biomes in any order, adding replayability and depth.
Yet, not everything lands. Act 2’s fragmented structure weakens character development, and the Timekeeper—despite a stellar performance by Dave Fennoy—lacks the screen time to become a truly iconic villain.
Performance Problems: The Looter’s Lag
Despite strong critic scores (84% on Metacritic, second only to Borderlands 2), the PC version launched with widespread technical issues:
- 🖥️ Severe frame rate drops—even on high-end GPUs like the RTX 5090
- ❌ Crashes, stuttering, and shader compilation delays
- 🔄 Multiplayer bugs, including “incompatible version” errors across platforms
- 🧩 Missing rewards, broken quests, and UI glitches
Steam reviews quickly dipped to “Mixed,” with many players refunding the game or turning to mods like Ultimate Engine Tweaks and Borderlands Optimizer to stabilize gameplay.
Enter Randy Pitchford, Gearbox’s ever-vocal CEO. Rather than retreating, Pitchford took to X (formerly Twitter) with a barrage of responses that ranged from helpful to combative:
- 🛠️ He offered optimization tips and encouraged use of DLSS: “I’m sorry you don’t like being told to use DLSS, but that is the way.”
- 💸 He told unhappy players to “get a refund from Steam” if they weren’t satisfied
- 🧠 He clapped back at critics: “Code your own engine and show us how it’s done, please.”
- 🕹️ He defended the game’s demands: “Borderlands 4 is a premium game made for premium gamers.”
While some fans appreciated the transparency, others saw his tone as dismissive. The backlash intensified when Pitchford shared hate mail and sarcastically questioned players’ expectations of performance on older hardware.
What Comes Next?
Gearbox has already rolled out its first patch and promised ongoing updates. A robust post-launch roadmap includes new story packs, bounty missions, and invincible bosses through Q1 2026. But the real test lies in whether the studio can regain trust—not just through content, but through stability.
Borderlands 4 isn’t just a game—it’s a statement. It dares to reboot its identity while dragging legacy expectations behind it. The gameplay is bold, the writing is sharper, and the ambition is clear. But technical missteps and tone-deaf leadership risk alienating the very community that made Borderlands iconic.
For creators, fans, and critics alike, this launch is a reminder: innovation must be matched by execution. And when the Vault opens, it better not crash.
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