Borderlands 4's PC performance has improved significantly since its fall 2025 release, and Gearbox has now explained exactly how that happened. Expectations were mixed leading up to the game's release due to several controversies surrounding its potential price point, recommended specs, and comments from CEO Randy Pitchford. 6 months later, Borderlands 4 It's in a different place than it was at launch, which makes it best suited for PC players.
Despite a hugely successful debut, Gearbox's looter shooter quickly lost ground. It took about two months. Borderlands 4 Despite critic reviews being generally positive, it lost 96% of its player base. However, Steam users thought differently and the title was downgraded to a “mixed” rating on the platform. Many of the most persistent complaints were about game performance. PC users often noted FPS drops, stuttering, and crashes, even when playing on high-end systems. Fortunately, Gearbox developers have addressed these issues.
Gearbox says Borderlands 4's average FPS has improved by 20%.
In a recent official post Borderlands 4 In a blog post, Gearbox detailed the PC optimizations the game has received so far. PC performance has been a visible issue on the gaming side. Borderlands 4 While the update offers promising improvements, some players have found the opposite. However, things have improved over time, and Gearbox now claims that the average FPS has increased by about 20% between version 1.0.2 and the current build, version 1.5. According to Gearbox, on the game's minimum specs, the average frame rate increased from 37.32 FPS to 52.79 FPS, while on the RTX 4090 it increased from 54.96 FPS to 78.43 FPS without being “too noticeable in terms of visual fidelity.”
Other fixes are also detailed in this post. Gearbox says stuttering has been reduced, with low frame rates now closer to average, and game crashes have been reduced to 0.38% of sessions. This is half of what it was in December. Posts commented on Borderlands 4The billions of guns also illustrate how generating so many unique elements can be difficult to render. Gearbox developers claim that the game now allows the graphics driver to detect new material earlier, helping it be ready for rendering when the time comes so players can enjoy the variety without the resulting performance hit. Additionally, some lighting and physics adjustments have reportedly been reduced. Borderlands 4GPU and CPU strain when rendering visual effects.
Gearbox concluded its post by acknowledging that there is still more work to be done and promising further optimization in the future. The studio previously confirmed this. Borderlands 4 Weekly patches and monthly updates are scheduled to arrive throughout 2026, so PC performance should continue to improve, barring any unforeseen issues with additional content. If nothing else, it's good to see developers taking the game's need for PC optimization seriously and making real progress on the issue. It's unclear how these upgrades will affect player numbers or what people think of the game going forward, but it's a necessary step nonetheless.
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Expectations are growing for the looter shooter on PC, but that can't be said to be the same across all platforms. After an indefinite delay, Gearbox has paused operations. Borderlands 4's Switch 2 version has an uncertain future. The port hasn't been canceled outright, but there's no telling how long it will be before Nintendo fans can try out the game on their console of choice. The pause will allow more time and resources to be allocated to the PC, PS5, and Xbox versions. Borderlands 4So while this may be good news for those who already own a copy, Switch 2 owners will have to wait a little longer.
- released
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September 12, 2025
- ESRB
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Ages 17+ / Blood and gore, intense violence, sexual themes, strong language, in-game purchases, user interaction
Source: 2K
