Borderlands 4 Switch 2 release date indefinitely delayed

Borderlands 4 has been indefinitely delayed on the Nintendo Switch 2, in a move developer Gearbox says is because the game “needs additional development and polish time.” 

The news comes courtesy of the official Borderlands account on Twitter, which shared a lengthy post explaining that the game had been delayed, with no new release date currently set for the game. 

“We do not take this decision lightly,” the post reads. “But we are committed to ensuring we deliver the best possible experience to our fans, and the game needs additional development and polish time to do that.” 

The post says that the new release date for the Switch 2 version of the game will be announced in the future, but is expected to be released at a time that “better [aligns] this release with the addition of cross saves,” which the company says it is working on. 

Existing digital preorders for the game will be cancelled starting from the end of this week, on September 26, 2025, although Gearbox says customers can initiate the process themselves ahead of that date. Physical preorders will not be cancelled automatically, so Switch 2 owners will need to contact the retailer they ordered from to arrange a refund. 

Borderlands 4 was released on Xbox Series X|S, PS5, and PC earlier this month, on September 12, and was said to be launching on Switch 2 on October 3, a little over a week from the delay announcement. At the time of writing, multiple regional Nintendo websites and eShops are still offering the game for preorder, and the official Borderlands website still points potential buyers towards these pages. 

The delay will come as no surprise to anyone who has been keeping an eye on the PC and home console launch of Borderlands 4, which has been plagued with performance issues across the board. Digital Foundry reported that the game can drop to as low as half of its intended frame rate on PS5 and Xbox Series consoles after continuous play, and players on PC have been criticizing its optimization, with the game currently having a “Mixed” rating on Steam. 

The poor performance and criticism from fans caused Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford to defend Borderlands 4's performance on social media, with a series of eccentric and bizarre posts including one that encouraged a critic to "code [their] own engine and show us how it's done."