Will Borderlands 4 Become Unreal 5’s Next Victim?

While excitement for Borderlands 4 is high, serious questions are already on the minds of gamers. Many games developed with Unreal Engine 5 have experienced performance issues at launch, and there’s speculation about whether the new Borderlands game will suffer the same fate. Furthermore, with the official release just days away, reports from content creators indicate that the game is CPU-intensive and struggles even at low settings.

Borderlands 4 Unreal 5 Performance Concerns

Many major AAA games released in the last two years have been criticized for performance issues. Similar issues have been reported in titles like S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, Silent Hill 2 Remake, Black Myth: Wukong, and Metal Gear Solid Delta. Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney attributed this to the studios’ development processes. He believes that many teams postpone optimization until later, leading to games experiencing issues at launch.

The Borderlands 4 Bulletin, which is monitored by the Borderlands community, revealed that the game places excessive demands on the CPU. While the recommended processors are Intel Core i7-12700 or AMD Ryzen 7 5800X, it’s claimed that even powerful systems can’t provide a smooth experience. Even tests conducted with the Ryzen 9 5950X observed insufficient frame rates at low settings.

Players point out that Gearbox has faced similar problems in the past. Borderlands 3 was also criticized for performance issues at launch, but later patches improved it. Therefore, some in the community believe Gearbox will recover this time around. However, there are also increasing concerns that Unreal Engine 5, in its current state, overexerts the game.

The real issue is who has the greater stakes: Epic’s engine or Gearbox’s implementation? While the answer to this question is debatable, what matters to players is that the game runs smoothly. Borderlands 4 is a long-awaited sequel, and expectations are very high. Considering the criticisms received before launch, it seems inevitable that Gearbox will rectify the situation with rapid patches.

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