Borderlands 4 will be released shortly with a large Day 1 patch, but fans are already fearing performance issues – our tester will tell you whether these concerns are justified.
Borderlands 4 is set to be released on September 11, 2025, and anticipation for the return of the loot shooter should be at the forefront.
But instead, many discussions are currently revolving around one topic: performance. Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford has commented on this on X – and his words have been met with mixed reactions.
Day 1 patch to fix a lot
Pitchford confirmed that Borderlands 4 will receive a large Day 1 patch right at launch. According to him, this patch is practically indispensable for enjoying the game in a playable state:
The Day 1 patch does a lot! However, if you’re using a computer that falls below the minimum requirements, you should expect the game to be unplayable.
It’s a miracle that the game runs on your systems at all. Given the engine and the processes running in the background, it’s actually incredible that you’re getting 55 to 60 fps in intense battles. Your specifications don’t indicate whether you’re using an SDD or HDD drive, but that could also explain some of the stuttering.
This is a big, bold, new, seamless world, and I’m sorry to say that older hardware may not deliver buttery-smooth performance for the latest AAA games, as has always been the case since the dawn of PC gaming.
The minimum requirements for Borderlands 4 are set accordingly high:
- CPU: Intel Core i7-9700 / AMD Ryzen 7 2700X
- GPU: RTX 2070 / Radeon RX 5700 XT
- RAM: 16 GB
- Storage: 100 GB (SSD required)
The recommended specs are even an RTX 3080 or RX 6800 XT and 32 GB RAM.
The community reacts with skepticism to anger
On Reddit, Pitchford’s clarification unsurprisingly sparked a storm of comments. Even before the release, many fans are already anticipating the next big optimization debate surrounding a AAA game in 2025:
- highmodulus:
It’s never been clearer: DO NOT PRE-ORDER!
- wantilles1138:
Realistic performance expectations = Runs like crap.
- Lo_jak:
It’s another UE5 game, and I’ve given up all hope for games that use this engine …
- theusualuser:
Borderlands 4 should then have ‘realistic expectations’ for its Steam user ratings.
- Ethan_NLHW:
Ah, so it’s going to be another unoptimized Unreal Engine shit show.
- NonnagLava:
People are only reading the headline and not the whole quote… He’s talking about performance if you don’t meet the minimum requirements.
Is this concern really justified?
Our tester Kevin was able to play Borderlands 4 extensively before its release – without the important Day 1 patch. Read his first impressions to find out how the performance is currently doing and what improvements we hope to see from the update:
What our tester says
Without these options, Borderlands 4 is virtually unplayable at the highest graphics settings, at least on our test systems. However, the differences between the highest presets and just high graphics are hardly noticeable at first glance. It remains to be seen what difference the Day 1 patch will make here.
Borderlands 3 already launched in 2019 with technical difficulties, some of which have still not been completely ironed out. This is also causing further mistrust, especially since Pitchford’s tweet seems to many fans like a preemptive explanation of why Borderlands 4 will run miserably for many of you at launch.
