Excitement for the Borderlands 4 Switch 2 edition quickly turned sour after Randy Pitchford gave fans a long-awaited yet less-than-exciting update.
According to the Gearbox Entertainment CEO, the Nintendo version will have some major drawbacks, leaving many players disappointed.
‘Borderlands 4’ will Dip below 30 Fps on the switch 2
Randy Pitchford surprised players when he revealed that the Borderlands 4 Switch 2 release date is set for October 3, 2025. So Nintendo users will now only have to wait a month after its debut on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series/S. This is great news, as many had expected the port to launch in 2026, given that it wasn’t even up for pre-order yet.
However, excitement around the announcement quickly faded when Randy Pitchford revealed additional information about the Switch 2 edition on social media.
While replying to questions on X, the Gearbox CEO revealed that the physical edition of Borderlands 4 Switch 2 would only be a download code. “It’s a big game. There will be a download, even for physical copies,” he wrote.
When another user asked him if it would at least run at 60 FPS, Pitchford revealed that the looter-shooter only performs at 30 FPS. It gets even worse from there, as he added that the game will dip below even that.
“It was important to us to not cut anything and to support cross-play with other platforms,” Pitchford explained. “So, no. It’ll be mostly around 30 FPS, with some dips in some intense moments, heavy combats, or if hosting a multiplayer game in handheld mode, etc.”
Now, it should be pointed out that it’s unclear if he means Borderlands 4 is 30 FPS only in handheld mode, or if this also applies to Switch 2’s docked mode as well. Still, a sub-30 FPS isn’t the greatest of news when we’re talking about first-person shooters. As such, many players were not happy with the new update.
Players Are Already Disappointed with the ‘B4’ Switch 2 Edition
Some players reacted to Randy Pitchford’s details about Borderlands 4’s release on Switch 2 with disappointment. As one user replied to his X post: “Big game is just ‘code’ for ‘lazy development.’”
Another commenter said, “Sounds like a Key Card.” One Borderlands fan even claimed they would boycott the Switch 2 edition altogether. “I will skip the game then unless it’s complete on either Xbox/PlayStation,” they wrote. “Not paying full price for a game that does not have the full game on disc/cartridge.”
Players were also miffed about the Borderlands 4 Switch 2 edition dipping below 30 FPS. “I will pass,” one player wrote. “No buy without a performance mode at lower resolutions. Even Borderlands 3 was 45 FPS on the Switch 1, dude.”
Other comments were bringing up Metroid Prime 4 as an example of a first-person shooter releasing on Switch 2 at 60 FPS. Granted, the new Metroid isn’t an open-world game like Borderlands. Plus, they are running on completely different engines.
Another sticking point Borderlands fans are bringing up is that Cyberpunk 2077 runs at 40 FPS on Switch 2. However, as someone who loves Cyberpunk on the Nintendo console, I can confirm the game has a lot of graphical settings dramatically scaled back.
In fairness to Pitchford, he did say that they didn’t want to cut anything from Borderlands 4. Plus, he only mentioned performance for handheld mode.
We’ll just have to wait until October to see how the Nintendo Switch 2 port actually fares, although I admit the 30 FPS thing is a bit of a personal disappointment.
The post Borderlands 4 Players Are Not Happy About Gearbox CEO’s Switch 2 Update appeared first on VICE.
