Borderlands 4 is finally out, but while critics with early access codes gave it a warm reception, the story is very different on Steam. Players there have slammed the game with a flood of complaints about performance issues and crashes, leaving it with an ugly “mostly negative” rating just hours after launch.

Based on hundreds of reviews already posted, the problem boils down almost entirely to Borderlands 4’s technical performance. Numerous Steam users report low frame rates and persistent stuttering even on high-end rigs with lowered settings, while frequent crashes are also a recurring complaint.

“Terrible, terrible performance. Worst I’ve ever seen,” wrote Etikoo in a negative review. “Dropped everything to Low and still couldn’t hit 60 FPS, even with FSR on my RX 6900 XT.”

Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford has acknowledged the situation, saying the game’s day-one patch “does a lot” but urging players to keep “realistic” expectations: “Older hardware may not provide buttery smooth performance.”

“30fps at native medium to high settings on 1440p with a 3080 Ti,” pirate135246 echoed. “It even looks worse than BL3, honestly. I don’t know why it runs this bad.”

Some outlets reviewing the PC version also reported issues. Windows Central’s Michael Hoglund noted that Borderlands 4’s enjoyable combat was regularly undermined by “intermittent zone loading” and framerate drops. Our own hardware tester, Nick Evanson, saw similar problems on launch day, though a 2.7GB post-release patch appeared to reduce crashes somewhat.

Even positive reviews can’t ignore the rough state of the game. One thumbs-up still warned: “Game is good but the performance is not; frame gen + DLSS is almost mandatory if you don’t own an RTX 5090.”

Concerns about performance surfaced earlier this week, when Pitchford cautioned fans: “This is a big, open AAA game, and lower-end or older hardware may not perform as well as high-end, modern PCs.” While a fair statement, many felt it was a subtle way of preparing players for disappointment—and judging by the Steam reviews, that’s exactly what happened.

Gearbox has yet to issue an official statement or roadmap to address these problems. Still, the game has only been live for a few hours, and responses take time. Despite the poor user rating, player numbers are soaring: SteamDB shows over 192,000 concurrent players, surpassing all previous entries in the series and likely climbing higher as the weekend approaches.

Source: PC Gamer