Borderlands 4 boss tells players “please get a refund from Steam if you aren’t happy” as Randy Pitchford continues his very public crashout over the FPS’s performance woes
By Scott McCrae
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Borderlands 4 boss tells players “please get a refund from Steam if you aren’t happy” as Randy Pitchford continues his very public crashout over the FPS’s performance woes
Scott McCrae
16 September 2025
“If you’re not happy using the tools available to you to improve frame rate and you’re not happy with the frame rate you have, you should play a different game”
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(Image credit: Gearbox Software)
Randy Pitchford’s Twitter crashout over Borderlands 4 performance complaints continues, as the Gearbox boss is now telling unsatisfied players to refund the game.
Borderlands 4 reviewed pretty well, and had an extremely good launch on Steam compared to previous games in the series. However, those Steam reviews tell a story of players facing performance issues, and nobody has been surfacing those performance issues more than Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford, who recently went on a massive Twitter tirade saying that people’s expectations are just too high.
Well, if you thought Pitchford would see the reaction to these posts (which included “I bet you have emotions and expectations that you feel aren’t sufficiently attended to”) and stop you would be mistaken. The great Pitchford Twitter crashout of 2025 continues with the Gearbox head replying to even more complaints.
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Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford says Borderlands 4 performance isn’t bad, your expectations are just too high: “If you’re not 4k stubborn and just want to have a great, fun time with higher perf, please consider running at 1440p resolution”
Borderlands 4 Steam reviews start at 41% positive as early players report performance issues and crashes: “Randy I sold my car for this”
Gearbox and Randy Pitchford aim a fire hose at the Borderlands 4 PC port, share “optimization guide” and a tip to “boost your performance” which is, big surprise, enabling DLSS performance with frame gen
You can do whatever you want. The game is the game. Please get a refund from Steam if you aren’t happy with it. You made an analogy to a vehicle. I would not put a Ferrari engine in a monster truck and expect it to drive like a Ferrari. If you tell me about your specification, I…September 16, 2025
Pitchford has been giving advice to boost performance, but when users said that DLSS and frame generation isn’t really a great alternative, Pitchford responds: “You can do whatever you want. The game is the game. Please get a refund from Steam if you aren’t happy with it.”
Pitchford adds that “I would not put a Ferrari engine in a monster truck and expect it to drive like a Ferrari,” and that “I’m sorry you don’t like being told to use DLSS, but that is the way. If you’re not happy using the tools available to you to improve frame rate and you’re not happy with the frame rate you have, you should play a different game.”
Again, there’s no one in Gearbox in the position to tell Pitchford to maybe lay off the Twitter for a bit, but I can’t say I’d be telling fans to get refunds or buy different games. When Arrowhead Game Studios’ boss told players not to buy the game until the servers were stable, he recalls that it “took five minutes until I got a call from the friendly people over at PlayStation asking what the fuck I was smoking. ‘Don’t recommend that people do not buy your games.'”
While you’re here, be sure to take a look at our Borderlands 4 review, as well as our Borderlands 4 tips if you’re just getting started in the game.
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Scott has been freelancing for over three years across a number of different gaming publications, first appearing on GamesRadar+ in 2024. He has also written for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, VG247, Play, TechRadar, and others. He’s typically rambling about Metal Gear Solid, God Hand, or any other PS2-era titles that rarely (if ever) get sequels.
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Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford says Borderlands 4 performance isn’t bad, your expectations are just too high: “If you’re not 4k stubborn and just want to have a great, fun time with higher perf, please consider running at 1440p resolution”
Borderlands 4 Steam reviews start at 41% positive as early players report performance issues and crashes: “Randy I sold my car for this”
Gearbox and Randy Pitchford aim a fire hose at the Borderlands 4 PC port, share “optimization guide” and a tip to “boost your performance” which is, big surprise, enabling DLSS performance with frame gen
Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford claims “less than one percent of one percent” of Borderlands 4 PC players reported “valid performance issues” via customer support, says “I have personally helped users go from 30FPS to 90FPS+”
Borderlands 4 boss Randy Pitchford wants “everyone to have realistic expectations for performance” ahead of launch: “This is a big, open AAA game and lower end and older hardware may not perform as well”
Borderlands 4 “may be in a whole new level here,” Randy Pitchford declares as the action RPG sets a series Steam concurrent player record within 24 hours of launch despite ‘Mixed’ reviews
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