Gearbox’s Randy Pitchford Is Thrilled: Borderlands 4’s Biggest Complaint Isn’t the Story

I did not have "Randy Pitchford being relieved that Borderlands fans are mad about performance, not plot" on my 2025 bingo card, but here we are.

The vibe from PAX Australia

At a PAX Australia 2025 panel, Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford sat down with Gearbox global creative executive officer Andrew Reiner and narrative director Sam Winkler to talk through the Borderlands 4 launch. The headline, according to them: the story is landing. Like, genuinely landing.

Winkler kept it straightforward: it has been going really well and he is happy with how players are responding to the narrative. Pitchford, meanwhile, sounded almost stunned that the conversation this time is not about the writing falling on its face.

"Isn't it weird to ship a game where the biggest complaint isn't how we fucked up the story?"

Winkler called that a relief, and Pitchford launched into a ramble that boiled down to this: most of the pushback right now is about technical performance, especially on PC, not the characters, not the story, and not the core loop. He even summarized the fan sentiment as basically: the story works, the characters are a hit, the gameplay is fun, so okay, let's talk tech. He said he is more than fine living in that reality.

Now, whether it is a great idea to suggest the PC complaints might be overstated is another conversation, and probably not the one PC players want to hear mid-stutter. Either way, Gearbox has been patching regularly since launch.

Why that matters

If you remember the reaction to Borderlands 3's story, this all tracks. BL3 caught a lot of flak for its narrative choices, so hearing that 4 is connecting with fans is notable. Pitchford even tossed Winkler a bit of onstage praise, telling him and the team they "crushed it" on the storytelling.

Personally, I come to Borderlands to hang out with friends and spray neon loot all over the floor while we argue about who forgot to trigger fast travel. But yes, it is nice when the plot is more than wallpaper. By most accounts, Borderlands 4 is actually giving people something to follow this time.

Quick hits from the panel

• Who was there: Randy Pitchford (CEO), Andrew Reiner (global creative executive officer), Sam Winkler (narrative director)
• Where: PAX Australia 2025
• The story reception: broadly positive; Winkler says he is happy with it
• The current complaints: tech performance, with PC being the sore spot
• Gearbox response: ongoing patches; Pitchford implied some PC issues might be getting blown up in the discourse
• Context: this is a sharp turn from Borderlands 3, which took heavy shots for its story

The discount curveball

And because nothing about this franchise ever arrives quietly: Pitchford previously said it would take at least five years before Borderlands 4 saw a major discount. Cut to one month after launch and the game already got its first smaller sale — 20% off on Steam. Not exactly a five-year wait.

So, the short version: the story is the win, performance is the headache, and the price is already wobbling faster than advertised. That is Borderlands, baby.