Borderlands 4 CEO: “Code your own engine and show us how it’s done please” — as performance woes hit the game’s Steam review score.

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Borderlands 4 is here, and it’s pretty great! That is, unless you’re looking for great performance.

As a researcher, I always raise an eyebrow when a game limits reviews to just one platform, and it felt significant that review copies of Borderlands 4 were only initially available for PC. While the game runs okay on Xbox Series X, I found the narrow field of view and the poor, stuttering performance in the quality mode to be quite disappointing. However, the issues seem even more pronounced on the PC version.

As a researcher following the launch of Borderlands 4, I’ve observed a lot of frustration from players. Despite its stylized, cartoonish graphics, the game suffers from frequent crashes and runs poorly even on relatively recent hardware. This has led to mixed reviews from the PC gaming community. Interestingly, Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford doesn’t seem to agree with these criticisms, which is a point of contention among players and observers like myself.

Randy Pitchford addressed user concerns on X (formerly Twitter), challenging them to create their own game engine to demonstrate how it should be done. He also stated that less than 1% of Borderlands 4 players are experiencing genuine performance problems.

Responding to criticism about the game’s AI upscaling, Pitchford jokingly challenged a user to create their own engine and demonstrate a better solution. He sarcastically suggested they’d be a customer if successful, implying the current criticisms dismissed the expertise of the hardware and tech companies, as well as the developers of the game’s graphics engine.

Randy Pitchford’s activity on X (formerly Twitter) has often drawn criticism, and his posts sometimes make things worse. Recently, he suggested players reduce certain visual settings, like volumetric fog, to improve game performance. However, some users noticed these suggestions clashed with official performance guidelines Gearbox had shared previously for the upcoming Borderlands 4.

According to Pitchford, they’ve demonstrated that Borderlands 4 can achieve over 120 frames per second on PC by simply adjusting the game settings, even with hardware that’s three to four years old. He notes that performance will differ depending on individual systems, but encourages players to use the available tools to find a balance between frame rate, resolution, and visual quality.

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As I understand it, Pitchford wrapped things up by thanking the community for their enthusiasm and letting us know our feedback was acknowledged. However, I found it a bit contradictory when he then argued that adding a field of view (FOV) slider to console versions would create an unfair playing field. This is despite the PC version already having an FOV slider *and* allowing cross-play with consoles, which seems to undermine that fairness concern.

It’s difficult to predict exactly what Gearbox will focus on to improve performance and fix technical issues on PCs and consoles. However, it’s obvious that game performance is a major concern for players right now.

The plurality of hardware configurations out there is certainly a challenge for optimization

The wide range of different computer setups is definitely making performance problems worse. While Unreal Engine 5 has gained a reputation for potential performance issues, whether deserved or not, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has suggested that developers often create games for powerful computers first, and then try to optimize them for less powerful ones later. This approach contributes to the problem.

It’s widely understood that responding aggressively to customer concerns isn’t helpful. While most Borderlands 4 players likely aren’t following the discussions on Randy Pitchford’s X account, it doesn’t reflect well on the game – especially when it goes against earlier statements about performance.

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Similar to what often happens with games, Borderlands 4 will likely become better optimized over time with updates. We recently saw this with Starfield, which added a 60 FPS mode on Xbox Series X after it launched. But increasingly, developers are prioritizing optimization for less powerful computers, following advice from Tim Sweeney.

As a researcher, I’ve consistently found that developers who prioritize optimization for the Xbox Series S from the start see improvements across all platforms. We’ve seen cases, like with *Black Myth Wukong*, where neglecting the Series S initially led to significant difficulties when they tried to optimize for it later. This situation mirrors what happens with lower-end PC graphics cards and even portable devices like the Steam Deck and the upcoming Xbox handheld – optimizing for these platforms early on seems to be the most effective approach.

Today’s game developers are under pressure to release on as many devices as possible. While it seems logical to prioritize enjoyable gameplay, smooth performance, and impressive graphics in that order, data might tell them a different story. For a long time, gamers have demanded the best possible visuals, but that’s starting to change. With people being more careful with their money and trying to extend the life of their current computers and consoles, the focus might be shifting away from purely high-end graphics.

Randy Pitchford’s approach on social media is likely making things worse, as it’s probably just adding to the frustration of players who are disappointed with the game’s performance.

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2025-09-15 14:10