Borderlands 4 PC performance debate takes a turn for the weird as Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford gets into bizarre row with OG Minecraft creator Notch: "Masculinity is a shader option"

Randy Pitchford's latest Borderlands 4 Twitter antics have gotten even weirder, as the Gearbox boss has also gotten into a row with controversial Minecraft creator Markus "Notch" Persson over the looter shooter's PC performance.

Pitchford is no stranger to Twitter backlash. He became embroiled in it months ago when players were concerned that Borderlands 4 might cost $80 and he suggested that any "real fan" would "find a way" to buy it anyway, and it's now happening again as he responds to concerns about the game's PC performance, even going as far to tell players to "get a refund from Steam" if they're unhappy with the state of things.

"Every PC gamer must accept the reality of the relationship between their hardware and what the software they are running is doing," reads one of many posts Pitchford has made on the topic, and also the one that caught the attention of Notch, the Minecraft creator whose name has largely been removed from the sandbox hit following controversies including, but not limited to, posting offensive tweets about transgender people.

"Be a man, dude," is the Minecraft creator's wisdom. These clearly aren't words that Pitchford is taking seriously, as he immediately parodies his original tweet: "Every man must accept the reality of the relationship between their gender and what the software they are running is doing. Masculinity is a shader option. Try turning it off if you'd like to tune your own performance."

Are there any winners in this interaction? Honestly, not really, and neither side has returned to the feud for another jab, so it appears that the beef – albeit brief – ends there.

Before this latest round of Twitter posting kicked off, Pitchford told us in an interview at Gamescom 2025 that the Gearbox devs "don't worry about the hate" they receive online, because "that's actually a different form of love. If someone's commenting, they're invested, man, they care." So, he said at the time, "I use that as fuel."

There's no doubt that fans will be hoping on this occasion that said fuel will be used to bring some optimization improvements to Borderlands 4, even if Pitchford previously claimed that "less than one percent of one percent" of PC players reported "valid performance issues."

While you're here, be sure to take a look at our Borderlands 4 review, as well as our Borderlands 4 tips to help you get started in Gearbox's new looter shooter.