Take-Two CEO Insists Borderlands 4 Support Unchanged: 'Performance Has Not Affected Our Plans at All'

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has reaffirmed that publisher 2K and developer Gearbox remain fully committed to Borderlands 4, stating that the looter shooter's commercial performance has not altered their roadmap for ongoing support.

As Borderlands 4 nears the end of its first year, the community has been speculating about the game's future—particularly regarding substantial DLC. Questions have arisen about its sales performance and player retention, and whether these factors could influence Gearbox's plans.

Here's what we know: The next major update arrives in September, introducing a new Vault Hunter named Loveless the Hacker as part of the paid Story Pack 2. This DLC, along with Bounty Pack 5, will launch alongside the Version 1.10 update.

But what about year two? Gearbox has yet to announce a content roadmap for 2026 and beyond, leaving fans to wonder if the studio will shift focus to the next Borderlands title or other projects. If year two content is in the works, what would it include—and at what cost?

In a recent interview, I asked Zelnick directly whether Borderlands 4's performance had impacted long-term support plans. His response was unequivocal: "No."

"Performance has not affected our plans at all," he said. "We have another Borderlands content pack coming. We continue to support the title. We've had plenty of incremental releases of content. So no, we're totally supporting it. We're thrilled with the performance, and thrilled with the reviews and the scores."

While Zelnick may be 'thrilled,' Borderlands 4 has faced a turbulent first year. Since its September launch, the game has been plagued by severe PC performance issues, leading to public disputes between fans and Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford on social media. Zelnick has acknowledged that sales suffered "a little bit of softness" due to these technical problems, but expressed confidence that the game would recover over time. The planned Nintendo Switch 2 version was also canceled, with Take-Two stating that Gearbox prioritized improvements on existing platforms.

On Steam, Borderlands 4 holds a 'mixed' user review rating. After peaking at over 300,000 concurrent players at launch, the game now averages a concurrent peak in the four digits. While Steam numbers don't capture the full picture—since the game is also on consoles—it's evident that Borderlands 4 could benefit from a boost.

Will Story Pack 2 and the new character provide that catalyst? Story Pack 1, which introduced playable character C4SH earlier this year, didn't significantly impact Steam concurrents. Gearbox and Take-Two will be hoping Loveless the Hacker makes a stronger impression.

We have more from our interview with Zelnick, including his thoughts on GTA 6 pricing, his defense of GTA 6 not launching on disc, and his predictions for the future of game streaming.