Borderlands 4 launches across PC and consoles amid performance issues

Borderlands 4 launched this week across PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S, sending hundreds of thousands of players to the new open world of Kairos even as reports of widespread technical problems have clouded the debut. The game, developed by Gearbox Software and published by 2K, went live for many regions beginning September 12, 2025; a Nintendo Switch 2 version is scheduled for October 3.

Initial engagement on Steam was strong. The title reached a peak of roughly 207,000 concurrent players hours after launch, surpassing the franchise's previous record and placing Borderlands 4 among Steam's top-played and bestselling releases. Critical reaction has been largely positive, with many reviews praising the refined gunplay, new traversal options and the four Vault Hunters that anchor the campaign. Critics also noted the move to a more measured tone and the game’s expanded endgame systems.

At the same time, user sentiment on PC has been sharply divided. Steam’s user reviews trended toward Mixed, with thousands of players flagging performance issues including stutters, crashes and lengthy shader compilation pauses. Reports say even machines with high-end graphics cards can...