Borderlands 4 officially broke a franchise record on Steam just an hour after launch, pulling in over 148,000 concurrent players on the popular platform. PC players in certain time zones have been able to dive into the game earlier than others, and stats indicate that Borderlands 4 is on a positive trajectory, with tens of thousands of franchise fans jumping into the action as soon as they were able.
PC players in North America, Europe, and South America can jump into Borderlands 4 today, September 11, ahead of its September 12 console launch on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. Unfortunately, those looking to snag the game for Nintendo Switch 2 will have to wait until October 3 to take on the Timekeeper. In late August, the team at Gearbox shared more details about Borderlands 4's post-launch content, with the game slated to add a seasonal mini-event, new legendary weapons, fresh cosmetics, and even a new weather variant within its first few months. Additionally, the title will get a paid Story Pack expansion, titled Mad Ellie and the Vault of the Damned, in early 2026, with Story Pack 2 planned sometime after.
One Borderlands 4 Super Deluxe Feature is a Double-Edged Sword That Will Hopefully Land Right Side Up
Borderlands 4's most expensive edition includes a feature that fans won't want to miss, but it needs to be handled carefully for it to work out.
Borderlands 4 Breaks Franchise Record on Steam an Hour After Launch
In its first hour on Steam, Borderlands 4 managed to pull in more concurrent players than all past Borderlands franchise titles. Upon release, Borderlands 2 pulled in over 124,000 players, with Borderlands 3 only peaking at around 94,000. By comparison, Borderlands 4 celebrated over 148,000 concurrent players today, with that number cresting 194,000 at the time of this writing. Early reviews for the looter shooter have been largely positive, with many outlets praising the game's more mature writing, action-packed combat, and likable characters.
Players picking up the new Gearbox title today should be sure to download Borderlands 4's day one update, which adds several key improvements and optimizations to help the intensive game run more smoothly. However, according to Gearbox's development chief, Randy Pitchford, while the update will smooth out some issues, players shouldn't try to run the game below minimum specs on PC, as this will likely render the game unplayable.
For those wanting more bang for their buck, new members who sign up for GeForce NOW can snag a free copy of Borderlands 4 by signing up for the service's 12-month Ultimate plan by September 25. The cloud-gaming service allows players to stream a wide variety of titles on various devices by running them on Nvidia's servers and engaging with them remotely online.
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
