Borderlands 4’s Struggles Raise Concerns About This Being the End

Borderlands 4 had one of 2025’s biggest releases in gaming, but it’s also struggling in some key ways that might doom the series’ future. Building off the success of the last 16 years of success in the gaming space, Borderlands 4 was one of 2025’s most anticipated titles. When it launched in September, it made a huge splash on the market by earning some of the best sales of any game this year.

However, only two months later, things are looking bleaker than they initially appeared. The game has apparently failed to meet Take-Two’s sales expectations, while gamers are leaving the title at a faster rate than other entries in the series. It’s a worrisome combination for fans of the franchise, as it could hint at the weakening brand power of the series. If Borderlands 4 doesn’t turn things around, Take-Two might end up deciding to let the series come to a halt.

Borderlands 4’s Epic Release Has Been Hitting Some Big Snags

Despite having one of the year’s best initial launches, Borderlands 4 is struggling in some key ways that should worry longtime fans of the franchise. Borderlands 4 was, by most metrics, a solid success for Take-Two Games. It had the biggest launch in the franchise’s history, and it is currently the third-best-selling game of 2025. Despite that, Take-Two has been telling investors that the game fell short of the publisher’s sales expectations.

While the game sold incredibly well up-front, glitches and bugs with the PC port of the title plagued its Steam release. Those problems were cited by Take-Two as the primary cause for the sales not hitting their initial projections. Audience engagement on the console side of things has also been dipping, with the game already dropping from 3rd to 14th in terms of PlayStation’s top downloads.

It seems that Borderlands 4 had a terrific opening salvo on consoles, but has been having trouble maintaining an engaged audience both in the PC and console space. That’s a serious problem for fans of the franchise, as these struggles (coupled with other shifts in the industry and broader views on the series) might give Take-Two pause before revisiting the Vault Hunters.

Why Borderlands 4 Is Losing So Many Players

The most damning reality for Borderlands 4‘s release is the drop in ongoing players. While over 300,000 players were diving into the game in the immediate aftermath of the release, the title has reportedly lost 95% of its players since. Part of this is the natural lifecycle of new releases, with most players leaving a title behind after completing the endgame. Many will likely return in time for the next DLC launch, for example. However, that sheer drop in engagement suggests that players who did miss out on the initial release aren’t picking it up. For example, Borderlands 2 also suffered an engagement hit after it was released, but it still retained roughly 20% of its initial player base.

Instead, Borderlands 4 hasn’t been retaining the players it had and doesn’t seem to be winning over new ones either, given the mixed reception it had from fans. This hints that the shelf life of Borderlands 4 might not be especially long, particularly because of the game’s overall lack of a post-endgame adventure. This is bad news for Take-Two, which had previously revealed an ambitious and winding path of regular content drops and updates. However, players have already been complaining about the standard weekly missions and repetitive boss battles. This is leading them to other titles.

Again, this isn’t out of the ordinary for gaming or media in general — once a piece of art is finished, it’s rare that someone will immediately restart it or remain engaged when there are other games to play. The game was also an undeniable hit for the company. However, Take-Two was especially ambitious with their plans to treat Borderlands 4 as an ongoing concern. The weekly mission drops and upcoming DLC were meant to soften the blow of players leaving.

However, it seems that the glitchy delivery of the game left plenty of players frustrated and unwilling to remain in the landscape. Instead, they’re turning to other epic games like ARC Raiders, subversive sci-fi like The Outer Worlds 2, or FPS titles like Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. In a crowded field, it was inevitable that people would play Borderlands 4 and then put it down. However, there may be a more damning reality that Take-Two and Borderlands fans might need to confront: the general gaming public might have simply moved on from Borderlands.

Is This The End Of Borderlands?

Debuting in 2009, Borderlands has been one of the biggest fresh franchises of the 21st century. With 5 mainline titles and 5 spin-offs or tie-ins, Borderlands quickly became a fan favorite for its snarky humor, colorful action, and multiplayer potential. Borderlands 2 in particular was a massive hit, and Borderlands 3‘s solid success in 2019 was able to propel the series over $1 billion in total revenue. However, the sheen of the franchise has been fading for a while now (and I say that as someone who loves this series).

Many critics of Borderlands 4 complained about the game’s ultimately repetitive gameplay loop and reliance on loot-driven weapon drops. This has been met with the game shedding players at an extreme rate, while the ones who do remain are complaining about the quality of the post-game content and releases. The brand itself has suffered in recent years, especially after the Borderlands film adaptation landed with a resounding thud with critics and audiences alike. Borderlands isn’t even considered to be all that much of a contender for Game of the Year at the upcoming Video Game Awards, which is a really stinging reality for one of the year’s most financially successful titles.

The great fear for longtime fans of the series is that Borderlands 4‘s struggles speak to the current limitations of not just the current title but the franchise itself. The trademark style of the series has fallen somewhat out of vogue, while other games have made a larger mark on the industry and broader audience. That they did this without coming with such massive expectations speaks to the “bloat” struggles that AAA games throughout the industry have been suffering from in recent years.

The sales projections for Borderlands 4 not being met despite its impressive results suggest that outside of a generational dividing release, Take-Two was always going to be disappointed with Borderlands‘ overall success. It simply doesn’t get the attention it used to command. This might lead the studio to pause the series for a time. Borderlands 5 has yet to be formally announced or even confirmed as in development, but all these struggles might give Take-Two pause before they move on to the next game in the series. It would be a shame, given the rabid fanbase the series has developed over the years. However, it might also be unavoidable.