Borderlands 4 sold up to 5 million copies at launch, was 'softer' than Take-Two expected

Borderlands 4 apparently did not meet specific expectations for Take-Two, and new data reveals that the sequel sold up to 5 million copies at release.

Borderlands 4 sold up to 5 million copies at launch, was 'softer' than Take-Two expected
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Senior Gaming Editor
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TL;DR: Borderlands 4 faced PC performance issues that led to a softer-than-expected launch, impacting initial sales below projections. Take-Two expects ongoing catalog sales and post-launch content to boost long-term performance, with confidence that the game will achieve solid unit sales and meet economic expectations over time.

Borderlands 4's issues on PC have stymied sales targets, leading to lower-than-expected performance for the game.

Borderlands 4 sold up to 5 million copies at launch, was 'softer' than Take-Two expected 11
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Take-Two's latest Q2'26 earnings digest reveals key details about Borderlands 4's performance, showing that the game could have sold up to 5 million copies at release. Data gleaned from the investor report confirms the total Borderlands franchise has now sold an estimated 99 million copies to date.

Before Borderlands 4's launch, the series was at 94 million, and Gearbox's Randy Pitchford had confidently said that the sequel would push Borderlands franchise past 100 million units. That almost happened. While we technically don't know how many of those 5 million games sold are copies of Borderlands 4, it's likely the fourth installment takes up the vast majority of sales.

Borderlands 4 sold up to 5 million copies at launch, was 'softer' than Take-Two expected 4
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Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick reveals that the game's launch was "soft," and while the publisher expects catalog sales of Borderlands 4 to carry on over time, other games like Mafia: The Old Country helped offset the miss from Gearbox.

The CEO delivers two main comments on the game. Here's the off-the-cuff response in a Q&A session with analysts:

"The release was a bit softer than we would have liked for the reasons that you said.

"Gearbox has been addressing the PC challenges. And I think in retrospect, we feel that there are things that we could have done better and 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 economic results will be in line with our expectations."

Then here's the prepared remark statement from Zelnick issued in the report itself:

"While we experienced some challenges with optimization and performance on PC, Gearbox has been addressing these issues and releasing updates to improve gameplay. We're confident that Borderlands 4 will achieve strong unit sales over its lifetime. We're immensely proud of Gearbox and look forward to robust post-launch content offerings that will support the game in the months ahead."