Borderlands 4 Launches to Record Player Numbers on Steam but Faces Performance Backlash

Borderlands 4 (Credit: Gaerbox Software)

Borderlands 4 is now available on PC, and despite breaking series records for player count, the game is already facing serious criticism over performance issues.

Record-Breaking Launch Numbers

Gearbox’s latest looter shooter debuted on Steam with an impressive 207,479 concurrent players on day one, according to SteamDB. That number pushed it into the top five most-played games on Valve’s platform during launch day.

For comparison, past entries in the series never came close to this scale. Borderlands 2 peaked at 124,678 concurrent players back in 2012, while Borderlands 3 topped out at 93,820 in 2019.

Even The Pre-Sequel (2014) only reached 68,238, and the remastered Game of the Year Edition hit just 23,655.

Clearly, fans were eager to jump into Borderlands 4, making it the most successful launch in franchise history—at least in terms of raw player count.

Steam Reviews Hit “Mostly Negative”

Just hours after release, Borderlands 4’s Steam reviews slid into the “Mostly Negative” category, with over 39% negative reviews (3,705 at the time of writing). The overwhelming complaint? Poor optimization and performance instability.

Players describe the experience as a “stutter-ridden mess,” with widespread reports of frequent crashes, input lag, and severe frame drops—especially in chaotic firefights where enemies flood the screen. Even many of the game’s positive reviews still note glaring technical shortcomings.

One frustrated player claimed that even with a GeForce RTX 5090, they struggled to maintain 60 FPS without relying on DLSS. Another said they had to turn most settings to low and enable frame generation just to hit a stable 70 FPS—disappointing for a game that, visually, doesn’t appear drastically advanced compared to Borderlands 3.

The performance issues also raise broader concerns about Unreal Engine 5’s growing reputation. While it enables stunning visuals and cutting-edge features, its track record on PC releases has been shaky. The engine has powered some of the most hyped games of 2025, like Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater and Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, but many of them—including Borderlands 4—have launched in an unstable state.

We’ve seen other developers turn rocky launches around with optimization patches, but that requires commitment and consistent updates. As of now, players are hoping Gearbox acknowledges the backlash and delivers meaningful fixes soon.