'Code Your Own Engine and Show Us How It's Done' — Randy Pitchford Goes on the Offensive as Borderlands 4 PC Performance Row Intensifies

Randy Pitchford is connected the violative erstwhile it comes to Borderlands 4 PC performance, responding straight to complaints connected societal media to Claptrap backmost astatine disgruntled fans.

Fresh from his confusing comments astir the crushed wherefore the console mentation of Borderlands 4 lacks a tract of presumption (FOV) slider, and his declaration that it would person been intolerable to interruption the Borderlands 4 servers done sheer value of subordinate numbers unsocial astatine launch, the outspoken Gearbox main spent clip this play addressing the complaints astir Borderlands 4 show connected PC. At assorted points connected societal media, Pitchford told radical to “code your ain motor and amusement america however it’s done, please,” and state Borderlands 4 “a premium crippled made for premium gamers.” He besides suggested radical enactment their irrational distrust of video crippled graphics tech specified arsenic DLSS speech and usage it if disposable to them.

There’s plentifulness to excavation into here, but yet what Pitchford is saying is that PC gamers should negociate their expectations erstwhile it comes to the show of Borderlands 4 successful the discourse of their ain rigs.

“Every PC gamer indispensable judge the world of the narration betwixt their hardware and what the bundle they are moving is doing,” helium said, kicking disconnected a thread intelligibly designed to code the show issues that person sparked truthful overmuch aboriginal sermon astir Borderlands 4.

“We person made an astonishing and amusive and immense looter shooter run game. The crippled is beauteous damn optimal — which means that the bundle is doing what we privation without wasteful cycles connected atrocious processes.”

Pitchford went connected to importune that PC gamers person tools that assistance them equilibrium their preferences betwixt FPS, resolution, and rendering features, and they should marque usage of them. “If you aren’t blessed with the equilibrium betwixt these things you are experiencing, delight tune to your preferences utilizing the tools disposable to you,” helium said.

Acknowledging everyone is entitled to an opinion, Pitchford insisted it was close for Gearbox to person focused connected Borderlands 4’s default settings hitting 30fps connected minimum specs, and 60fps connected recommended specs.

“Some of you would similar much fps, oregon much features, oregon higher resolution. We person provided galore tools to assistance you marque those commercialized offs,” helium continued.

Then, successful emblematic Randy Pitchford connected the beforehand ft fashion: “It is simply a mistake to judge oregon expect that PCs betwixt minimum specification and recommended specification tin execute each of highly precocious framerate, maximum/ultra features, and highly precocious resolution.

“If that past station makes you person a antagonistic reaction, I stake you person emotions and expectations that you consciousness aren’t sufficiently attended to. I’m sorry.

“But delight judge that the crippled is doing a batch and moving beauteous optimally and that you whitethorn person to either judge immoderate commercialized offs betwixt fps, features and solution arsenic your penchant oregon you volition proceed to beryllium disappointed.”

There’s more. Pitchford went connected to counsel PC gamers should marque usage of DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling), Nvidia’s AI-powered representation enhancement and rendering exertion for GeForce RTX GPUs, downplaying interest astir input lag.

“Use DLSS. It’s great,” helium said. “The crippled was built to instrumentality vantage of it. This is not a competitory FPS. And, I person been led to judge that successful a unsighted trial that humans cannot observe immoderate input lag. In my ain demonstrates and experiments, I judge this is true.

“Everyone has the state to judge what they privation to judge and I cognize connected the net it’s casual to find rage and passionate radical who are convinced of each kinds of things, whether they are existent oregon not.

“If you are truthful attached to the thought that DLSS is atrocious for your crippled acquisition due to the fact that of thing you saw oregon work connected the internet, I americium sorry. I anticipation alternatively you would usage the exertion designed to springiness you the acquisition you want.”

Randy Pitchford has plentifulness to accidental astir Borderlands 4 PC performance. Photo by Leon Bennett/Getty Images.

There’s more, but the remainder is pointing retired Gearbox is continuing to amended Borderlands 4 and PC show (there’s an update retired though no-one knows what it did), and to convey players for their interest. There are besides “a fewer existent issues,” Gearbox is moving to fix, but those impact “a very, precise tiny percent of users.”

That’s conscionable 1 societal media thread from Pitchford. There are much connected this issue. He tweeted to accidental lawsuit work reports for Borderlands 4 are astir 1% of installs, and 0.04% are PC show related, with CS flagging 0.009% arsenic “valid” 0.037% person experienced occurrence with acquisition (settings coaching).

“That is little than 1 percent of 1 percent (0.01%) of customers utilizing CS tickets for valid show issues, which is little than 1/5 of the users utilizing CS to get assistance with Twitch drops,” Pitchford explained.

Then, the kicker: “This world is dramatically antithetic than what you would expect if your lone sources of accusation were, say, definite net threads.”

“No specified presumption made,” Pitchford added successful effect to 1 idiosyncratic who pointed retired not everyone with PC issues files a ticket. “We are besides looking astatine telemetry successful existent clip careless of what radical report. There are radical with debased perf and we attraction astir that. But 1% of 1 cardinal is 10,000! Just 1,000 posts feels similar everyone the mode net chatter works.”

Earlier successful the weekend, Pitchford suggested radical dormant acceptable connected playing successful 4K solution should possibly see playing astatine 1440p instead.

“I cognize a batch of you are dormant acceptable connected playing astatine 4k with ultra max settings and utilizing 2 oregon three-year-old hardware,” helium tweeted. “You bash you, but BL4 and UE5 are doing a batch and for maine that commercialized disconnected for frames isn’t worthy it. I play astatine 1440p with settings ace precocious and americium ace blessed with that commercialized disconnected - the crippled looks astonishing astatine 1440p.

“If you’re not 4k stubborn and conscionable privation to person a great, amusive clip with higher perf, delight see moving astatine 1440p resolution. If you’ve got a beast of a video card, you’re astir apt good astatine 4k. But if you’re successful the mediate oregon adjacent to min spec, I would decidedly urge making that trade.”

And determination are further quotes, possibly betraying a interaction of vexation from the Gearbox boss. Responding to 1 idiosyncratic who told Pitchford Gearbox would person been amended disconnected gathering the crippled for “the astir communal hardware,” helium tweeted: “Borderlands 4 is simply a premium crippled made for premium gamers.”

“The minimum and recommended specs are published,” helium said. “The astir communal hardware is simply a 4 twelvemonth aged compartment phone. Borderlands 4 is simply a premium crippled made for premium gamers. Just arsenic Borderlands 4 cannot tally connected a PlayStation 4, it cannot beryllium expected to tally connected too-old PC hardware. Unlike connected PlayStation and Xbox, we cannot forestall a PC subordinate with sub-optimal hardware for the crippled effort to play it. So immoderate effort and get mad. And immoderate person existent issues we request to fix. And immoderate request to larn however their PC’s enactment astatine the precocious extremity for this circumstantial crippled successful 2025 and usage the tools disposable to them to find the close equilibrium betwixt framework rate, resolution, and graphics features.

“This is not a crippled made to tally connected 10-year-old PCs — this crippled uses the afloat capabilities of modern bus, CPU, and GPU. If you’re trying to thrust a monster motortruck with a leafage blower’s motor, you’re going to beryllium disappointed. If you observe your strategy can’t tally the crippled good by mishap oregon wishful reasoning and/or don’t privation to effort to messiness with settings to marque things bully capable for you, delight usage the refund diagnostic connected Steam alternatively than person a subpar experience.”

And, responding to 1 idiosyncratic who said Gearbox should marque Borderlands 4 “look good” without utilizing AI upscaling technology, Pitchford deed backmost with a dose of sarcasm: “Code your ain motor and amusement america however it’s done, please. We volition beryllium your lawsuit erstwhile you propulsion it off. The radical doing it present are intelligibly dumb and don’t cognize what they’re doing and each the enactment and recommendations and codification and architecture from the world’s top hardware companies and tech companies moving with the world’s top existent clip graphics motor coders don’t cognize what you look to know. /sarcasm”

Borderlands 4 launched past week and deed a highest of implicit 300,000 concurrent players connected Steam unsocial — a fig importantly higher than immoderate Borderlands crippled released connected Valve’s platform. However, Steam reviews are ‘mixed,’ with astir of the complaints revolving astir PC performance.

In response, Gearbox posted a Borderlands 4 Nvidia Optimization usher connected Steam, advising players however to optimize their graphics settings for “better show and framerates” connected PC with the Nvidia app.

Gearbox past issued a portion of proposal to PC gamers that to maine reads similar an effort to forestall players from making knee-jerk reactions to the game's show arsenic soon arsenic they’ve changed their settings: “Please enactment that immoderate clip you alteration immoderate of your graphics settings, your shaders volition request to recompile. Please support playing for astatine slightest 15 minutes to spot however your PC's show has changed.”

If you are delving into Borderlands 4, don't spell without updated hourly SHiFT codes list. We've besides got a immense interactive representation acceptable to spell and a badass Borderlands 4 planner instrumentality courtesy of our buds astatine Maxroll. Plus cheque retired our adept players' choices for which quality to take (no 1 agreed).

Photo by Leon Bennett/Getty Images.

Wesley is Director, News astatine IGN. Find him connected Twitter astatine @wyp100. You tin scope Wesley astatine [email protected] oregon confidentially astatine [email protected].