Borderlands 4, developed by Gearbox, set a new Steam concurrent-player peak of 207,479 within 24 hours of launch, even as reviews settled at ‘Mixed’. That surge matters because it eclipses the series’ previous high and highlights a split between player interest and early technical reports.
The PC version has an 84 on Metacritic, and critics praised the combat while finding the story and villain weaker. The outlet’s Borderlands 4 review called it “an excellent looter-shooter” for players willing to focus on its systems. On Steam, the title hit a peak of 207,479 (thanks, SteamDB), far above Borderlands 2’s old record of 124,678. Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford noted the early record in a tweet about launch timing and peak concurrency.
Player reaction to the storefront is more mixed. The Steam player aggregate Steam reviews are currently sitting at ‘Mixed’, with many negative reports citing poor performance and alleged Unreal Engine 5 optimization problems. Pitchford had earlier urged everyone to have realistic expectations for performance, noting the larger open-world scope and older hardware limitations. A Steam user on a Radeon RX 6900 XT writes that they could not reach 60 FPS even at low settings with upscaling enabled.
With such a broad hardware mix among players, Gearbox may have optimization work ahead. The conversation about launch stability also raises questions about console ports; reports touch on how the the Switch 2 version will perform when it arrives. In the meantime, there are practical Borderlands 4 tips to help players get the most out of Kairos.
Around Borderlands 3 launch, we reached peak concurrency on the Sunday evening after a Tuesday launch. We may be in a whole new level here breaking records early: https://t.co/mw9L78jdxT
— Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) September 11, 2025
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