Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford has responded to social media users criticizing Borderlands 4's PC performance. Pitchford is no stranger to controversy, and the fourth mainline entry in Gearbox's looter shooter series has been stirring up contention since before its release, but the game has still gotten off to a decent start. However, not every Borderlands 4 player has had a great experience, and their comments on the matter seemed to have rubbed the studio's boss the wrong way.
Despite the rocky road to release, things have largely gone well for the latest Borderlands title. It only took an hour for Borderlands 4 to pull over 140,000 concurrent players on Steam, which is a marked improvement over the 94,000 simultaneous users Borderlands 3 managed to draw in the same timeframe. At the same time, as more PC users have tried out the game, some cracks have started to show, and now it has snowballed into a heated argument between upset fans and Gearbox Software's captain.
Randy Pitchford Admits He's 'Nervous' About One Aspect of Borderlands 4
Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford admits he's 'nervous' about one particular aspect of Borderlands 4.
Randy Pitchford Tells Users to 'Code Your Own Engine' in Argument Over Borderlands 4's PC Performance
On September 13, Pitchford took to Twitter to respond to players pointing out PC performance issues some have been having with Borderlands 4. In one instance, the CEO sarcastically told a user to "code your own engine" and "show us how it's done," seemingly accusing them of implying the Gearbox dev team doesn't know what it's doing and that they could do better. In another, he claimed that despite the noise around the issue, less than 0.01% of users have reported "valid" customer service tickets. All of this started when people began to notice Borderlands 4 was facing major performance problems on Steam, with some players only managing to reach 30 or 40 FPS. While Pitchford has said that Gearbox is trying to help "everyone who has real issues," there are clearly still fires yet to be put out.
These comments are far from the first provocative statements from Pitchford. The CEO has also blamed Borderlands 4's PC performance shortcomings on subpar hardware, saying it's "a premium game made for premium gamers." While the title's recommended specs are notably steep, some users have claimed they meet the minimum requirements but have still encountered some difficulty. Patches will undoubtedly come in the future, but when that will happen and how well they'll address players' concerns is uncertain for now.
Pitchford has faced public backlash over incendiary comments before the game was even out. At one point, Pitchford said "real" Borderlands fans would pay $80 for the game as controversy arose about its cost before Gearbox confirmed a $70 price tag. That situation has largely fizzled out after fears of a higher price were assuaged, but it remains to be seen how things will go for Borderlands 4's PC performance going forward.
Borderlands 4
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 82 /100 Critics Rec: 88%
- Released
- September 12, 2025
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact
- Developer(s)
- Gearbox Software
- Publisher(s)
- 2K
