Borderlands 4 has only been available for a few days, but the conversation around its performance on PC has already become one of the most debated topics in gaming circles. While critics have largely praised the game as a return to form for the long-running looter shooter franchise, many players have voiced frustration over stuttering, frame rate drops, and demanding system requirements. In response, Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford has taken to social media to push back against what he sees as misplaced criticism.
On Twitter/X, Pitchford argued that the issue lies less with the game itself and more with the expectations of PC players. “Every PC gamer must accept the reality of the relationship between their hardware and what the software they are running is doing,” he wrote. He emphasized that Borderlands 4 is already “pretty damn optimal,” and that users have the tools to adjust their own balance between resolution, frame rate, and graphical features.
Pitchford also defended the studio’s decision to target 30 frames per second on minimum hardware specifications and 60 frames per second on recommended specifications, calling this “absolutely reasonable for developers to focus on.” He encouraged players seeking higher frame rates to compromise on visual fidelity or resolution and highlighted DLSS as an important tool to smooth the experience. “Use DLSS. It’s great. The game was built to take advantage of it,” he noted, adding that input lag concerns around the technology are overstated.
In a series of follow-up posts, Pitchford shared internal customer service statistics, claiming that valid PC performance complaints account for less than 0.01 percent of players. According to him, most tickets relate instead to SHiFT account issues and console-specific field-of-view controls. “This reality is dramatically different than what you would expect if your only sources of information were, say, certain internet threads,” he wrote.
Not all players have accepted that explanation. One user responded that submitting a support ticket was unnecessarily complicated, suggesting that many dissatisfied players instead vent through Steam reviews. Another pointed out that the majority of negative reviews cite performance as the central problem. Pitchford, however, insisted that many of these issues can be resolved by using the available in-game settings, even claiming to have personally helped some players improve their frame rate from 30 to 90 frames per second.
Borderlands 4, an action role-playing first-person shooter by Gearbox Software and published by 2K, was released on September 12, 2025, for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S. A Nintendo Switch 2 version is expected on October 3, 2025.
