Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick says Borderlands 4 didn't achieve the launch numbers the company was hoping for, partially due to PC issues, but it's still proud of Gearbox for its accomplishment regardless.
"While we experienced some challenges with optimization of performance on PC, Gearbox has been addressing these issues and releasing updates to improve gameplay," Zelnick said in the latest Take-Two investor presentation. "We're confident that Borderlands 4 will achieve strong unit sales over its lifetime."
Zelnick added that Take-Two is "immensely proud of Gearbox" and is looking forward "to robust post-launch content offerings that will support the game in the months ahead."
Later on in the call, during the Q&A portion, Zelnick expanded on this idea, hope, belief, whatever, that Borderlands 4 will have a longer tail than its initial launch figures might suggest.
"The release was a bit softer than we would have liked for the reasons that you said," Zelnick said in response to an investor who mentioned the game's notorious PC performance issues as a possible contributing factor to the drag in launch sales.
"Gearbox has been addressing the PC challenges. And I think in retrospect, we feel that there are things that we could have done better, but we intend to do better in the future. In the fullness of time, we think the unit sales on this title will be very solid, and the the economic results will be in line with our expectations," said Zelnick.
Borderlands 4 hasn't exactly been a commercial disappointment - setting multiple US records for Gearbox as the fastest-selling game in the series, the first to debut as the best-selling game of its month, and becoming the third-best seller of 2025 - but I suppose Take-Two was hoping for a little more success right out the gate.
