It’s no secret that many new games launch with performance hiccups, but Borderlands 4 seems to be in a league of its own. What’s truly surprising isn’t just the technical problems, but the response from Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford, who has publicly dismissed widespread player concerns, attributing issues to unrealistic expectations from gamers rather than acknowledging potential optimization flaws.
Eager to put Borderlands 4 to the test, I fired it up on our standard RTX 4070 benchmarking rig, a system capable of handling most new releases at high settings in 1080p and 1440p. Despite the developer’s CEO suggesting players might be expecting too much, I opted for a modest medium graphics preset with DLSS enabled. My findings were far from ideal, painting a grim picture of the game’s current PC performance.
The testing session began disastrously. After an excruciating 15-minute shader compilation, I was met with an unyielding ‘Logging in’ screen. Despite troubleshooting steps like verifying game files, adjusting firewall settings, and running as administrator, the game refused to proceed. This initial roadblock immediately highlighted significant launch issues.
Having already wasted over half an hour just trying to reach the main menu – a luxury I, like many busy gamers, simply don’t have – the frustration was palpable. Eventually, a full PC restart proved to be the only solution to bypass the persistent login freeze, finally allowing access to the game.
With the game finally running at medium settings and DLSS on Quality, I started playing. Initial segments, leading up to the first boss, offered merely ‘okay’ performance. However, combat encounters triggered noticeable and frequent frame rate dips. Aggressive movement, a core part of the Borderlands experience, only exacerbated these performance struggles.
During the repeatable Warden Scathe boss fight, the average frame rates clocked in at 72fps (1080p), 61fps (1440p), and a mere 46fps (4K). More concerning were the 1% lows: 52fps, 37fps, and 25fps respectively. These low figures consistently pointed to significant stuttering across all resolutions.
While our test rig didn’t quite hit the game’s official recommended 1440p 60fps specifications, it’s still a robust system featuring a capable Nvidia RTX 4070 GPU and an 11th-gen Intel Core i7 CPU. It’s reasonable to expect such hardware to manage these settings without such glaring performance issues, especially considering its age and price point.
Unfortunately, performance deteriorated even further once I reached the open-world sections. After navigating Claptrap’s camp, the freedom to explore was immediately met with a dramatic drop in frame rates and intensified stuttering, severely impacting the gameplay experience.
In the open world, average frame rates plummeted to 62fps (1080p), 53fps (1440p), and a practically unplayable 23fps (4K). The 1% lows were equally grim, hitting 37fps, 26fps, and a dismal 14fps. Frankly, a game like Borderlands 4 has no business performing at 37fps on an RTX 4070 at 1080p with medium settings, regardless of any counter-arguments.
Disabling DLSS only worsened the situation, with averages falling to 56fps, 50fps, and 20fps, and 1% lows dropping to 32fps, 23fps, and 14fps. These figures, especially the alarmingly low 1% lows, indicate persistent and severe performance issues, making the game feel consistently choppy. For a single-player shooter, we generally aim for a minimum 60fps average and 45fps for 1% lows, a standard Borderlands 4 is nowhere near meeting.
Beyond mere frame rate drops, exploring the open world revealed a litany of graphical glitches: distracting texture pop-ins, objects vanishing from the environment, and constant lighting flickers. It’s clear that Borderlands 4 suffers from significant optimization issues, and the developer’s public stance feels like an attempt to deflect responsibility rather than address fundamental problems.
Despite these significant problems, I remain optimistic that Borderlands 4 could achieve great performance with targeted fixes. A few dedicated patches or hotfixes addressing these issues could quickly turn the tide, allowing players to fully enjoy the game as intended.
However, in its current state, Borderlands 4 is, regrettably, almost unplayable, particularly during combat — a core element of the experience. Until these performance frustrations are resolved, I’ll be dedicating my limited gaming time to titles that offer a smoother, more optimized experience.
Have you experienced similar performance issues with Borderlands 4, or has your experience been different? Share your thoughts and join the discussion with our community!