The conversation started with a fan’s tweet expressing concerns about the upcoming Borderlands series entry, highlighting its visual similarity to Borderlands 3 and questioning whether it would suffer from reduced marketing efforts. The fan also referenced the critically panned Borderlands 2024 movie, mentioning even Uwe Boll’s criticism. In response, Randy Pitchford expressed reluctance to engage with such negativity, intending to block the user to avoid stress. However, he later decided to mute notifications instead.
Gothalion, a well-known streamer, then encouraged the developer to embrace criticism and respect fans’ views. Pitchford dismissed this as unconstructive "toxic pessimism," arguing that developers work tirelessly to entertain players. This stance divided the community—while some backed Pitchford, acknowledging the immense pressure developers endure, others viewed his comments as evasive and emotionally charged. Many noted this wasn’t the first instance of Pitchford making strong statements online.
Borderlands 4 is set to release on September 23, 2025, for PS5, Xbox Series, and PC.