Gearbox has delayed the Nintendo Switch 2 version of Borderlands 4 indefinitely and cancelled all digital pre-orders just over a week from its release date.
The looter shooter had been due out on Nintendo’s new console on October 3. Gearbox failed to share an updated release date in its announcement. Here’s Gearbox chief Randy Pitchford’s Borderlands 4 Nintendo Switch 2 release date announcement video, released in July.
An important message regarding the Nintendo Switch 2 version of Borderlands 4: pic.twitter.com/Wc5MwAU2bm
— Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) July 22, 2025
The delay decision comes at a time when Gearbox is already working to fix performance issues with Borderlands 4 on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S. For example, last week the tech experts at Digital Foundry confirmed a gradual worsening of framerate with continuous playtime, even on the more powerful PlayStation 5 Pro and Xbox Series X. As revealed in a video published to YouTube, Digital Foundry found performance starts dipping after around 30 minutes to an hour, which it called “too intrusive on the overall experience, too regular an interruption.” Even after a completely fresh boot, the game is still prone to framerate drops.
Meanwhile, Borderlands 4 is still on a mixed Steam review rating, with most of the negative comments revolving around PC performance. Digital Foundry has said its initial analysis of Borderlands 4 on PC shows significant stutter problems, and have advised against running the game on its ‘Badass’ graphics setting, which suggests there are indeed problems with the Unreal Engine 5 title.
With this in mind, it’s hard to imagine Borderlands 4 on Nintendo Switch 2 running smoothly.
“Greetings, Vault Hunters,” Gearbox’s statement began. “We need to share that the release of Borderlands 4 on Nintendo Switch 2 is being delayed. We do not take this decision lightly, but are committed to ensuring we deliver the best possible experience to our fans, and the game needs additional development and polish time to do that. Our hope is to also better align this release with the addition of cross saves, which we are working on and recognize is very important. We will update you all on the new release timing once we’ve fully adjusted our plans.”
The studio said that “in accordance with Nintendo’s policy,” all digital pre-orders to date will be cancelled. “We greatly appreciate the feedback, support and patience of our fans and community. It’s truly what keeps us going.”
There was a distinct lack of surprise at the announcement from fans. “The game has trouble on my 4080 super, I can’t imagine how the Switch version would fare,” said redditor Bitemarkz. “I dont expect the Switch 2 version to ever run well, but I do respect the decision to delay it to avoid a complete disaster of a launch,” commented jwhudexnls. “BL4 brings top of the line desktop PCs to their knees, there’s no way in hell whatever flavor of NVidia Tegra is inside the switch 2 can even launch the game,” added HoboG0blin.
It was a similar reaction over on social media. “Given how it performs now it would run at either 5 fps on the Switch 2 or turn into a Torgue device that explodes when attempting to run the game,” said @Raumentonus. “Assumed as much, why did we push up the release date in general?” wondered @atomick.
Greetings, Vault Hunters – We need to share that the release of Borderlands 4 on Nintendo Switch 2 is being delayed. We do not take this decision lightly, but are committed to ensuring we deliver the best possible experience to our fans, and the game needs additional development…
— Borderlands (@Borderlands) September 23, 2025
Pitchford had set his sights on winning angry Borderlands 4 players over on social media. Since Borderlands 4’s huge Steam launch last week, Pitchford has issued confusing comments on why the console version of Borderlands 4 lacks a field of view (FOV) slider, promised that it would have been impossible to break the Borderlands 4 servers through sheer weight of player numbers alone, told people to “code your own engine and show us how it’s done, please,” and declared Borderlands 4 “a premium game made for premium gamers.” He even started telling Borderlands 4 players to refund the game on Steam if they were that upset.
However, it seems Pitchford has been relatively quiet on social media in recent days, and has yet to issue any comment about the delayed Switch 2 version.
If you are delving into Borderlands 4, don’t go without an updated hourly SHiFT codes list. We’ve also got a huge interactive map ready to go and a badass Borderlands 4 planner tool courtesy of our buds at Maxroll. Plus check out our expert players’ choices for which character to choose (no one agreed).
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
