Borderlands 4 is a big example of why we need to stop making excuses for buggy launches

2 days ago 2

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Borderlands 4 may have been a highly anticipated game release for 2025, but the launch has been anything but smooth. Many people picked up the game on PC and consoles, hoping to dive into another crazy misadventure, this time taking place on the planet Kairos. But not everybody has been able to play the game without something unusual or buggy happening in it. What was supposed to be a great new release to kick off the fourth quarter of the year ended up becoming a hot debate about new game launches and quality.

This isn't something new or exclusive to the release of Borderlands 4. There have been plenty of new game releases that had a very rough or buggy launch, often with updates that come shortly after the official release of the games. But this isn't something that players should continue to ignore, especially when things are in a similar bad state to what Borderlands 4 was experiencing. New games may always have a bug that can pop up occasionally when they first hit the market, but it's not something to give a pass when people are paying full retail price for a brand-new experience that is supposed to be high quality. Here's why Borderlands 4 is a big example of why we all need to stop making excuses for buggy launches.

Big problems from the start

It's just not good to see

One of the biggest issues that comes with buggy launches is how it can totally deflate the release of a new game. The conversation about a new release can center around everything that's wrong or becoming wrong about it, rather than the intended experience that developers want players to have. And while there are aspects of the development process that can remedy issues that pop up before a game hits the market, it's not the sole answer to the problem. However, it's made all the worse when there's an expectation of this being the case with every major launch. It's something that is casually implied all too often and is not good to see.

Borderlands 4 having recurring bugs and glitches isn't something to brush off, nor should it be expected to happen on its launch week. The problems people are encountering are not a series of annoying graphical bugs that happen infrequently, but rather major things that greatly affect the core experience for players on PC and consoles. On the PlayStation 5, it's been noted by many people on social media that the game becomes more prone to encountering bugs and other major issues the longer one plays, especially on a PlayStation 5 Pro console. It progressively gets worse, which can result in the game crashing in some instances. On the PC, things like frequent crashes, terrible performance with stuttering, and progress loss are only a few of the problems that PC users find themselves running into.

These are all things that nobody should have to experience at a game's launch, and it should not be given a pass. Patches and updates will definitely be made and released to fix these issues in due time, but players shouldn't just be OK with this right now. They end up paying full retail price or more at launch and end up with a broken experience. And new games really shouldn't be released in a state where they feel broken from the start.

Similar to other rough releases

Doesn't make it better

The common excuse often shared is that most big-budget games, which are typically large, often have buggy releases. Some of them may even have the same hurdles that Borderlands 4 finds itself in. But that doesn't make things better or demand more from games, so they work when players first pick them up. It almost makes the case that everyone who wants a brand-new game should wait until weeks after it releases to buy it, which can be around the time when the first group of patches are released to clean up what's messy about it. But shouldn't a game that's on store shelves feel like it's complete enough to play through from beginning to end without major issues?

This is why it's so disappointing to see Borderlands 4 in the state it is in at launch. Gearbox Software has acknowledged the issues and has pledged to release new updates to fix everything, with a major update coming to PC first before the console versions. But in reality, the studio probably should've delayed the game and allowed for more time to iron out the terrible issues on this level. It's very hard to spot every technical problem a game can have, but some of the issues that Borderlands 4 players are running into at launch feel like they could've been spotted way earlier.

Other popular titles like Cyberpunk 2077, No Man's Sky, and even Halo: The Master Chief Collection all suffered from broken releases. They later got multiple patches and updates that made them more stable to play, but the damage at their launches was done. It's a recurring problem that continues to persist with the release of more games, with the general expectation that something will be broken initially until it's fixed later on. This should not be the case, and players shouldn't be fine with that. Just because other games had this same scenario occur doesn't mean we should give a pass to new and upcoming games when the exact same thing happens. At some point, enough has to be enough.

What comes next?

Looking for answers and solutions

A disembodied Psycho head in Borderlands 4.

With Borderlands 4 finally out now, the game will eventually get the necessary updates it needs to solve its most glaring shortcomings on consoles and PC. However, the need for games to be better at launch will require gamers to demand more from studios, and studios to be willing to take more time to double-check their work. Whether that means delaying a release a little longer or not will be different for every company, but people want experiences that are not riddled with bugs and glitches. And more importantly, they want their games to work well when they buy and play them.

And yet, part of this also requires gamers not making excuses for when these kinds of things happen with new releases. We can't be quiet when a game frequently crashes so many times on a PC setup that is built to play everything smoothly, nor when our Xbox Series X/S or PlayStation 5 struggles to run a game correctly. These aren't things that anybody should be content with. And the more people stay loud about that, the more likely studios will think harder about their games launching in a more stable state.

Trying to play more Borderlands 4

For the time being, everyone is going to have to enjoy playing through Borderlands 4 the way it is. Gearbox has already said it's their priority to work on patches for the biggest problems that have been showing up, especially some of the crazier things in the PC version. Those on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S may have to hold on a little longer until those same updates carry over into the game on all platforms. For many, diving into Kairos for the first time now, it is what it is for the moment. But eventually, rough game launches like this are going to need to stop taking place, and what's happened with Borderlands 4 is a good example of why studios need to do better.