Despite receiving positive reviews, Borderlands 4, which launched on September 12 for PC, PlayStation, and Xbox, is plagued by widespread performance issues. PC players have highlighted poor optimization, leading to subpar gameplay even on powerful systems. Console players, particularly those on the PS5 Pro, are also experiencing significant technical difficulties, a problem that developer Gearbox has publicly acknowledged.
Borderlands 4 Performance Glitches Explained
Numerous players have reported severe performance degradation while playing Borderlands 4 on both PS5 and PS5 Pro. Many describe a frustrating experience where frame rates steadily decline the longer they play. A user on the Borderlands subreddit speculated that the game might be suffering from a memory leak, causing these issues.
To mitigate these problems, one player suggested switching lobby settings to ‘Local Mode’ to improve stability on PS5 Pro. Another common piece of advice circulating among players is to simply restart the game after a few hours of play. Randy Pitchford, CEO of Gearbox, who has consistently defended the game’s PC optimization since its release, echoed this temporary solution in a response to a PS5 Pro user on X.
Responding to recent complaints about poor PS5 Pro performance, Pitchford stated that it is a known issue on the console.
“Known issue of perf dropping on PS5 pro after several hours of continuous play,” Pitchford commented. “Workaround until we patch: Quit game and restart. Sorry for the friction!”
Borderlands 4 PC Performance Struggles
The situation on PC for Borderlands 4 is arguably worse, with many players experiencing significant technical hurdles. Reports indicate severe performance bottlenecks, persistent stuttering, and overall instability, even for users running the game on high-end hardware. One player specifically noted inconsistent frame rates despite using the latest Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 GPU. Pitchford directly engaged with this user, offering personal suggestions for graphical tuning to achieve more stable performance. He recommended reducing volumetric fog and leveraging DLSS frame generation.
Earlier this week, Pitchford engaged in a lengthy discussion defending Borderlands 4’s PC performance, asserting that the looter shooter was already running optimally. He suggested that PC users should be prepared to make trade-offs between frame rate, visual features, and resolution.
“Every PC gamer must accept the reality of the relationship between their hardware and what the software they are running is doing,” Pitchford articulated.
“We have made an amazing and fun and huge looter shooter campaign game. The game is pretty damn optimal – which means that the software is doing what we want without wasteful cycles on bad processes.
“With Borderlands 4, every PC gamer has a LOT of tools to balance their preferences between FPS, resolution, and rendering features. If you aren’t happy with the balance between these things you are experiencing, please tune to your preferences using the tools available to you.”
Despite his occasionally controversial public statements, Pitchford acknowledged that a “very, very small percentage of users” were encountering genuine, unresolved issues. He confirmed that Gearbox had already addressed some of these problems and was actively working on further fixes. “We are also doing significant work on PC performance and, well, everything else that is coming at us,” he added.
Despite these technical woes, Borderlands 4 has proven to be a massive commercial success since its debut. The game achieved a peak concurrent player count of 300,000 on Steam within its first week, marking it as the series’ largest Steam launch to date.
According to data provided by market research firm Alinea Analytics, Borderlands 4 has sold over a million copies on Steam alone and more than two million copies across PC, PS5, and Xbox Series S/X platforms, reportedly generating an impressive $150 million in revenue.