Randy Pitchford hits back at Borderlands 4 performance criticism: “Code your own engine”

Gearbox Software CEO Randy Pitchford has come under fire for his response to Borderlands 4’s shaky performance at launch, after telling one fan to “code his own” engine in a sarcastic reply.

Borderlands 4 has enjoyed a successful launch so far, breaking the series’ all-time player count record on day one. However, it hasn’t all been smooth sailing, as players have been struggling with performance issues, and in some cases, even hard crashes on PC.

Although some of these problems have now been fixed by the stability patch on September 13, fans are still running into issues.

As a result, Randy Pitchford has been handing out advice on how to improve the experience, from using DLSS to turning off volumetric fog. But when one fan urged him to “make your game look good without relying on AI upscale,” he quickly clapped back.

Randy Pitchford claps back at Borderlands 4 fan

“Code your own engine and show us how it’s done, please. We will be your customer when you pull it off,” Pitchford replied, before adding:

“The people doing it now are clearly dumb and don’t know what they’re doing and all the support and recommendations and code and architecture from the world’s greatest hardware companies and tech companies working with the world’s greatest real time graphics engine coders don’t know what you seem to know.”

Code your own engine and show us how it’s done, please. We will be your customer when you pull it off. The people doing it now are clearly dumb and don’t know what they’re doing and all the support and recommendations and code and architecture from the world’s greatest hardware…

— Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) September 13, 2025

Although he insisted the reply was “sarcasm,” fans weren’t impressed with the message, with many calling Pitchford out for reacting this way to a player with a valid complaint.

“Wow, really? That’s your reaction? Not a good look bro,” said one reply. “This is a legitimate concern and reacting like a sensitive little b***h is not helping you.”

“If a chef told me something like that when I complained my steak was overcooked I’d never visit that place again,” wrote another player.

This isn’t the first time that Pitchford has found himself in hot water around the release of Borderlands 4. Prior to launch, he received plenty of criticism for saying that “real” fans will pay $80 for games, which he later apologized for.