Borderlands 3 already has "the best numbers in Gearbox history", says Gearbox CEO

Borderlands 3 might not have had the smoothest start – a lot of people remain unhappy the looter-shooter is tied in with an Epic Games store PC exclusivity deal, and PlayStation 4 players have been complaining about performance issues – but according to Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford, the game is giving the publisher its "best numbers in Gearbox history!"

"Fun Fact: On PC, the data is that the launch day peak concurrent players of Borderlands 3 is about *twice-as-high* as the all time peak concurrent players of Borderlands 2," Pitchford wrote on Twitter on release day. "WOW! You guys are great!"

As our pals at PC Gamer calculated, that suggests Borderlands 3's concurrent peak on EGS is sitting somewhere around 248,000 players on PC, as Steamcharts states Borderlands 2 peaked at 123,596 players at launch, and SteamDB reports a little bit more at 124,678 players. Double that, though, and you've got a number just shy of 250K. 

Of course, this only concerns the PC figures – Pitchford didn't expand on how the game's sales are doing on consoles – but if accurate, it's a great debut weekend for the irreverent shooter.

Pitchford then updated his Twitter again over the weekend, adding: "Incredible day with new peak concurrency (and climbing). Best numbers in Gearbox history!"

Borderlands 3 is out now on PC via Epic Games store, PS4, and Xbox One, and you'll see a review from GamesRadar+ in the next few days as we didn't receive code in advance of launch. In the meantime, though, check out our Borderlands 3 review round up to see what everywhere else is saying about this latest iteration of looter shooter mayhem. 

If you're new to the series check out our Borderlands story recap and find out why, a decade ago, the series almost faded into obscurity.