Borderlands 4 Developer Cautions Players on PC Performance for Older Systems

Borderlands 4 Developer Cautions Players on PC Performance for Older Systems

As the highly anticipated release of Borderlands 4 approaches, Randy Pitchford, head of Gearbox Software, has issued a pre-emptive warning to players with less powerful PC setups. He explained that the upcoming title is a "big, bold, and seamless AAA game," and therefore, players should not expect stable performance on older or budget hardware.

Pitchford confirmed that a day-one patch will be available, bringing optimizations and improvements. However, he stressed that players shouldn't anticipate a miraculous transformation for under-spec machines. "If you try to run the game on a system below the minimum requirements, it will be unplayable," he stated, referencing reports from 2K's QA team. These tests indicated that even on systems meeting the minimum specifications, the game achieved around 60 frames per second on "medium" settings. He also highlighted the significant impact of storage type, noting that an SSD considerably reduces stuttering compared to a traditional HDD.

In a direct message, Pitchford elaborated: "The Day 1 patch does a lot! That said, the expectation for using a below min-spec machine should be that the game is unplayable. That the game runs at all on your system is a miracle. That you can get 55 - 60 fps out of heavy combat is actually incredible given how the engine and…" He continued, mentioning that storage type (SSD vs. HDD) could also explain performance issues. "This is a big, bold, and seamless game, and unfortunately, old hardware won't be able to provide perfectly smooth performance for the latest AAA projects – this has always been the case since the dawn of PC gaming."

To assist players in configuring their settings, Gearbox plans to release materials showcasing the game's performance across various hardware configurations. Despite his cautious statements, Pitchford expressed confidence in the project's overall performance, saying, "We are satisfied with the optimization, especially considering what’s happening 'under the hood'."

Players can experience Borderlands 4, whether on budget or high-end systems, starting September 12 on PC (via Steam and Epic Games Store), Xbox Series, and PlayStation 5. Nintendo Switch 2 owners will join the vault-hunting adventure on October 3. Developers have also confirmed that the game will feature Russian text localization.