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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsGearbox CEO Randy Pitchford’s defense of Borderlands 4’s PC requirements became a controversy of its own. In response to launch complaints about stuttering, crashes and optimization, he said the game was made for “premium gamers,” compared running it on old hardware to powering a monster truck with a leaf blower, and urged unhappy players to seek a refund. His remarks explained Gearbox’s position; they did not establish that older PCs caused every reported performance problem.
What Pitchford said about Borderlands 4 performance
Borderlands 4 launched on September 12, 2025, for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC through Steam and the Epic Games Store. 2K announced a Nintendo Switch 2 version for October 3, 2025. 2K’s launch announcement set the release context for the PC performance debate.
After players reported optimization problems, stuttering and crashes, Pitchford responded on X on September 13. PC Gamer quoted him saying: “Borderlands 4 is a premium game made for premium gamers. Just as Borderlands 4 cannot run on a PlayStation 4, it cannot be expected to run on too-old PC hardware.” He added: “This is not a game made to run on 10-year-old PCs… if you’re trying to drive a monster truck with a leaf blower’s motor, you’re going to be disappointed.” PC Gamer’s September 14 report also said Pitchford recommended trying 1440p instead of 4K and adjusting settings.
Why the response drew criticism
Players quoted in PC Gamer pushed back that they were seeing frame-rate problems even at lower resolutions and on mainstream graphics cards. Those accounts illustrate why the exchange resonated, but they are individual reports—not controlled tests comparing hardware or a measure of how common the problem was.
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The “premium gamers” framing and monster-truck comparison also shifted attention from the technical question—what systems could run the game well—to whether the response was dismissive of customers reporting trouble. In a separate exchange, GameSpot reported that Pitchford told an unhappy Steam player: “Please get a refund from Steam if you aren’t happy with it.” The outlet also reported his acknowledgment of a performance drop on PS5 Pro after several hours of continuous play, with restarting as a workaround while a patch was pending. GameSpot’s September 17 coverage places those remarks in the wider response to complaints.
What Gearbox’s PC targets do—and do not—tell you
Gearbox’s PC troubleshooting guide, updated October 6, 2026, lists these expected results for its minimum and recommended PC specifications:
| Specification tier | Gearbox’s stated expected result |
|---|---|
| Minimum | 1080p at 30 FPS on Low settings |
| Recommended | 1440p at 60 FPS on Medium settings |
These are Gearbox’s published targets, not guaranteed outcomes for every computer and not independent benchmarks of the PCs discussed in the controversy. The guide does not establish that every complaint came from hardware below its requirements, nor that meeting a listed tier rules out performance problems. Gearbox’s PC troubleshooting and optimization guide is the source for the targets and its current advice.
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Gearbox’s current troubleshooting advice
If you are troubleshooting on PC, Gearbox’s guide recommends a sequence that can help distinguish setup issues from performance limits:
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- Check the game’s PC requirements. Compare your system with the requirements Gearbox publishes in its support guide before assuming a particular component is responsible.
- Update your graphics driver. Use the appropriate driver for your GPU and check whether the issue changes afterward.
- Allow shader compilation to finish. Gearbox says compilation typically takes about 10 minutes on most PCs. After changing graphics settings, it advises playing for at least 15 minutes before judging the performance effect.
- Try supported upscaling. The guide describes DLSS, FSR, TSR and XeSS options. Their availability and effect depend on your hardware and chosen settings; they are not a guarantee of a particular frame rate.
- Verify the game files and disable overlays. Gearbox lists both as common troubleshooting steps for PC issues.
Did the later updates resolve the complaints?
Gearbox’s September 13, 2025 update notes said an update was being released “to help improve stability for a wide range of PCs.” The current troubleshooting guide offers further advice, but neither the early update note nor the guide establishes that every reported performance issue has been fixed. Players’ symptoms can also differ by hardware, settings and game conditions.
There is no independently substantiated statistic in the cited coverage establishing what share of all players experienced performance problems. TechSpot relayed a customer-service figure attributed to Pitchford, but it is not an independent measure of player prevalence and cannot show how widespread the issues were. TechSpot’s September 15 report provides context for that attributed figure.
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