Borderlands 4's Player Numbers Drop 97% Since Launch

Unfortunately for 2K and Gearbox, despite boasting impressive player numbers at launch – 300,000 concurrent users on Steam in its first weekend is nothing to sneeze at – Borderlands 4 couldn't keep that momentum, with its playerbase plummeting a whopping 97% in less than three months after its mid-September release.

According to SteamDB data, the latest installment in the most renowned looter-shooter series now struggles to surpass 10K concurrent players, peaking at just 9,220 this past Monday and suggesting a clear lack of interest and a slow influx of new players. Combined with earlier reports that Borderlands 4 hasn't met Take-Two's launch sales expectations, the declining player numbers further indicate that Gearbox's plan to sell at least 8 million copies may end up taking much longer to achieve.

Meanwhile, Borderlands 4's ratings have also been sliding downhill since its release, now standing at just 4.6/10 user score over on Metacritic. This makes it the lowest-rated mainline Borderlands game in the franchise's history, with even the widely criticized Borderlands 3 scoring a full point higher at 5.6/10.

When it comes to why the game loses interest and rating points so quickly, the main reason seems to be BL4's optimization issues, reflected in its stuttering, crashes, and low FPS on PC.

It's worth noting that the first reports of the title's poor performance appeared several days before release, and combined with Randy Pitchford's antics and odd statements throughout 2025, it's fair to say Borderlands 4 had "red flags" all over it – something now clearly reflected in its player reviews and numbers.

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