Baldur’s Gate 3 Director Weighs In on Randy Pitchford’s Borderlands 4 Meltdown

Borderlands 4 may have had a strong launch, but the conversation around the game has quickly shifted away from sales success to performance problems — and Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford’s very public response to them.
The game debuted to record numbers for the series on Steam, but PC players have been vocal about performance issues. Pitchford, however, hasn’t exactly handled the criticism in a PR-friendly way. On social media, he’s told fans things like “please get a refund from Steam if you aren’t happy” and even suggested that some complaints boil down to unrealistic expectations: “If you’re not 4K stubborn and just want to have a great, fun time with higher perf, please consider running at 1440p.”
His blunt style has drawn plenty of attention, with some fans defending his honesty while others feel he’s only inflaming the situation.
Baldur’s Gate 3’s Michael Douse Reacts
Michael Douse, publishing director at Larian Studios (Baldur’s Gate 3), weighed in on the debate. While he admitted it’s refreshing to see a studio head “let his freak flag fly” instead of sticking to corporate-approved boilerplate responses, he also expressed sympathy for the developers at Gearbox caught in the middle.
“I feel bad for his teams who are just trying really hard to make players happy,” Douse commented, pointing out that while Pitchford’s openness is unusual, it risks overshadowing the hard work of the developers themselves.
Turning a Performance Problem Into a Spectacle
Pitchford has gone further than most executives typically would, even claiming that only “less than one percent of one percent” of Borderlands 4 PC players reported valid technical issues through customer support. He’s also said he personally helped some users boost their framerate from 30FPS to over 90FPS.
Still, his Twitter activity has turned what could have been the usual launch-day performance complaints into something much larger — a public spectacle where the focus is now as much on his comments as the game itself.
Whether you see his candor as refreshing or reckless, there’s no denying that Randy Pitchford has made Borderlands 4’s rocky PC rollout one of the most talked-about gaming stories of the week.