Amid a tidal wave of performance complaints on PC, the first Borderlands 4 patch has arrived to address stability – but no one knows what it does

Borderlands 4.

• Borderlands 4 has faced criticism for its performance on all platforms
• Gearbox has released a patch for PC optimization, but there are no patch notes
• The studio rolled the patch out quickly, but no word on console fixes yet

Borderlands 4 launched on Friday, but with complaints about its performance on every platform (even powerful PC builds), there’s a lot that could be tightened up.

The good news is that developer Gearbox has released a stability fix for the game on PC. The bad news is that, at the time of writing, there are no patch notes.

Posting on Steam, Gearbox has explained that it’s “releasing a new update to help improve stability for a wide range of PCs”. What that entails, however, is anyone’s guess.

Aside from a heads-up that shaders could take up to 15 minutes to recompile after installation of the new update, and pointing players to an NVIDIA Optimization Guide or AMD one (depending on your graphics card manufacturer), there’s not a lot else to go on.

It’s worth noting that this patch, whatever it contains, dropped just a day or so after the game launched. That shows the studio is at least moving quickly to rectify issues with the first entry in the series to go open world.

Here’s hoping console gamers get an update soon for stability. Gearbox has committed to “exploring how to bring [FOV] sliders” to PS5 and Xbox since launch, following community feedback, so expect more updates soon.

I’ve been playing for much of the weekend on PS5 Pro, and it’s hard not to spot some significant frame rate drops - particularly when playing in co-op - as well as some texture pop-in. As a result, I'm really hoping these patches make their way onto other platforms sooner rather than later too.

It’s not ruined the fun, though, and I stand by Rhys’ assessment that it’s one of the best in the series so far, thanks to smarter writing and improved mobility.

You might also like...

• Metroid Prime 4: Beyond release date finally confirmed by Nintendo along with Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment – and they're both arriving sooner than you think
• Mario Tennis Fever and Yoshi and the Mysterious Book announced for Nintendo Switch 2, along with ports of Super Mario Galaxy 1+2 and Super Mario Bros. Wonder DLC
• Marvel Rivals Season 4 launch: our live coverage of the new update, Angela, and early impressions