Borderlands 4 for the Nintendo Switch 2 has been shelved as performance issues persist

'We made the difficult decision to pause development,' Take-Two Interactive said, confirming that Borderlands 4's handheld version has been shelved.

Borderlands 4 for the Nintendo Switch 2 has been shelved as performance issues persist
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TL;DR: Borderlands 4, launched on Unreal Engine 5, faced significant performance issues on PC and consoles despite updates. Development of the Nintendo Switch 2 port has been paused indefinitely as Take-Two Interactive focuses on optimizing the game and delivering quality post-launch content, casting doubt on the port's future release.

Borderlands 4 was one of the more notable game releases last year, a new entry in one of the most popular PC gaming franchises, and it was generally well-received by critics and fans alike. That said, both the PC and console versions of the game were plagued by performance issues at launch, with developer Gearbox infamously telling PC gamers at the time to enable DLSS and Frame Generation if they were experiencing low frame rates.

Borderlands 4 for the Nintendo Switch 2 has been shelved as performance issues persist 2
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Running on Unreal Engine 5, it was the latest high-profile release to demand pretty high-end gear just to play at 60+ FPS at a high resolution with high detail settings, like say, a GeForce RTX 5080. In the months following the game's launch, several updates aimed to improve performance, with the most recent arriving in December.

Amid issues with the game's performance, the Nintendo Switch 2 version was delayed indefinitely, and pre-orders were cancelled and refunds issued. Fast forward to 2026, and the publisher Take-Two Interactive has announced that development on the Switch 2 port has been "paused" as it focuses on "ongoing improvements to optimize the game."

Here's the full statement.

"We made the difficult decision to pause development on that SKU. Our focus continues to be delivering quality post-launch content for players on the ongoing improvements to optimize the game. We're continuing to collaborate closely with our friends at Nintendo. We have PGA Tour 2K25 coming out and WWE 2K26, and we're incredibly excited about bringing more of our titles to that platform in the future."

After being delayed indefinitely amid ongoing performance issues on significantly more powerful PC and console hardware, the news that development on the Nintendo Switch 2 port of Borderlands 4 is being paused makes this version sound like it has been cancelled. Perhaps the Switch 2's hardware simply isn't capable of running the game in its current state.