In a wide-ranging interview conducted following this week’s GTA 6 delay, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has admitted Borderlands 4‘s sales were “softer” than expected – blaming the dip on “challenges” with the heavily criticised PC release that Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford previously insisted had “few real issues”, despite significant performance complaints.
Borderlands 4 launched to largely positive reviews back in September, but quickly racked up a “negative” rating on Steam as customers lambasted its poor PC performance. In response, the outspoken Pitchford took to social media claiming the PC release was “pretty darn optimal” and only had a “few real issues” affecting a “very, very small percentage of users”. Even so, Pitchford said developer Gearbox would be undertaking “significant” work to improve performance on the platform.
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And now, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has specifically cited Borderlands 4’s PC release as a reason for “softer” than expected sales. “The critical acclaim [the game received] was superb, and we’re really happy with the release,” Zelnick told TheGameBusiness’ Christopher Dring in an interview coinciding with yesterday’s GTA 6 delay announcement.
“Equally,” he continued, “there were some challenges with the Steam release. Gearbox has been addressing those challenges and will continue to do so. So, in terms of units sold out of the gate, the numbers were a little softer than we would have liked. In the fullness of time, we think it’s going to do great.”
Back at launch, Digital Foundry identified “big performance issues” in its analysis of Borderlands 4 on all platforms. As such, it wasn’t a complete surprise when Gearbox made the decision to indefinitely delay the game’s Switch 2 release, saying it needed “additional development and polish time” to “deliver the best possible experience to our fans”.