Borderlands 4 will release on the Switch 2 at 30FPS 'with some dips,' says Gearbox CEO

Borderlands 4 is coming to the Nintendo Switch 2 on October 3, and according to Gearbox Software CEO Randy Pitchford, who announced the news via a video on his personal X account, there will be a download with the physical copy.

Pitchford has seemingly confirmed that Borderlands 4 will be arriving in the form of a Game Key Card over the full title arriving on a physical cartridge, which isn't unusual at all as Borderlands 4 is a "big game" and other publishers such as Square Enix and Capcom have decided to take this route as well for their titles. Why? Well, it's simply cheaper for the publisher as they don't have to pay for a large physical cartridge.

As for performance, Pitchford said in a reply to a user asking if it will run at 60FPS that Gearbox didn't want to cut anything from the game and wanted to support cross-play with other platforms. So the decision was made to target 30FPS, with Pitchford adding there will be "some dips in some intense moments, heavy combats, or if hosting a multiplayer game in handheld mode, etc.." Notably, Borderlands 3 on the original Nintendo Switch averaged around 45FPS during typical gameplay.

"It was important to us to not cut anything and to support cross play with other platforms. So, no. It'll be mostly around 30 FPS, with some dips in some intense moments heavy combats or if hosting a multiplayer game in handheld mode, etc," explained Pitchford in a reply