Key Takeaways
1. Randy Pitchford, Gearbox’s CEO, faced backlash over comments about Borderlands 4’s physical edition on Switch 2 requiring an internet download for full content access.
2. The game is experiencing performance issues on PC and other platforms, which Pitchford has acknowledged.
3. Testing on the Steam Deck showed poor performance, with frame rates struggling to stay above 20 FPS at 800p resolution.
4. Enabling frame generation improved performance to nearly 30 FPS, but introduced severe input latency, making gameplay difficult.
5. ETA PRIME recommended waiting for future patches before playing Borderlands 4 on the Steam Deck due to the current unsatisfactory experience.
Borderlands 4 has faced a lot of drama since it was first announced, mainly because of remarks made by Gearbox’s CEO, Randy Pitchford. Recently, another issue arose when he mentioned that the physical edition of Borderlands 4 for the Switch 2 won’t be fully available on the cartridge and will need an internet download to access all the content. With the game’s release, it is once again encountering performance problems, something Pitchford has openly recognized.
Performance Testing on the Steam Deck
Randy’s comments were mostly about the performance on PC, but popular YouTuber ETA PRIME decided to test Borderlands 4 on the Steam Deck, a well-known handheld console, to see how it performs.
At first glance, the results were not good. Running the game at 800p resolution with FSR set to Performance, it struggled to keep even 20 FPS, often fluctuating between 18 and 22 FPS. The particle effects made things worse, causing significant slowdowns, and aiming at this framerate was nearly impossible.
Frame Generation Issues
In the middle of the video, the YouTuber switched to a game capture device, effectively streaming the game at 720p. By enabling frame generation, the performance improved to nearly 30 FPS, but it came with a major downside: severe input latency, making the gameplay feel sluggish and hard to control. Even when the Steam Deck’s GPU clock speed was increased to 1600 MHz, the game continued to struggle with input lag and stuttering, though it did manage to reach around 40 FPS.
ETA PRIME concluded that although Borderlands 4 technically works on the Steam Deck, playing it in its current state is not enjoyable. They suggested that unless future patches bring improvements, players eager to experience the game on Valve’s handheld might want to wait a bit longer.
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