Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford expressed that Borderlands 4 is “a premium title for premium gamers” when he addressed questions on social media regarding the game’s PC performance issues. While he provided suggestions for gamers to enhance their experience, his remarks sparked frustration among fans about the current state of the game.

Pitchford’s statement coincided with the release of a PC-specific patch aimed at resolving several ongoing performance issues, which occurred shortly after the game’s much-anticipated launch. Although Borderlands 4 did not specify the changes implemented in the latest update, the developers recommended users update their AMD or Nvidia graphics drivers to their most stable versions. They also noted that shader compilations could take up to 15 minutes to fully reassemble after any adjustments to graphics settings.

Randy Pitchford Addresses Performance Issues

Despite the awareness surrounding performance concerns on Steam, Pitchford maintained that the game is designed for advanced hardware, stating, “Just as Borderlands 4 cannot run on a PlayStation 4, it cannot be expected to run on outdated PC components.” He encouraged players with older setups to seek refunds rather than compromise on gameplay quality.

Furthermore, he advised playing Borderlands 4 at 1440p and utilizing technology such as DLSS upscaling to improve frame rates. However, his comments attracted criticism from several members of the Borderlands community, many of whom argued that the responsibility for optimization and performance should fall on the developers. Various user responses blamed the inconsistent frame rates on the Unreal Engine 5, used by Borderlands 4. Currently, the title holds a Mixed review rating on Steam.

Following the September 14 patch, developers committed to continuing to gather user feedback and plan further optimization updates, urging players to adjust the settings of Borderlands 4 to fit their preferences.