Borderlands 4's mixed performance on Nintendo Switch 2 at Gamescom sparks debate

Borderlands 4 is set to arrive on Nintendo Switch 2 soon, and fans got a hands-on experience at Gamescom 2025 in Cologne, Germany. Since the upcoming looter-shooter is one of the most demanding Unreal Engine 5 games this generation, hopes weren't high for its Nintendo Switch 2 version.

However, certain reports claim that the situation is worse than imagined, with the game often dropping below 30 FPS. Footage from Gamescom 2025 also shows mixed results, so here's everything to know about this situation.

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Borderlands 4's performance on Nintendo Switch 2 at Gamescom 2025 has resulted in split opinions

The shaky performance claims picked up pace after YouTuber EpicNNG described their time with the game on Nintendo Switch 2, saying the following in a post on X:

"Borderlands 4 on the Switch 2 could barely run at 30fps with 4 enemies on screen in docked mode. It had horrendous input delay, and the render resolution was seemingly turned all the way down."

While they did not post or record any footage, they did share a follow-up video describing their experience. To summarize, the game suffered stutters on Nintendo's machine when foes spawned or when shooting, with low textures and assets on the Vault Hunter character model in the inventory, loading in slowly.

This was exacerbated by the apparent input lag that made the game unplayable for them. They deemed their experience bad enough to stop playing. While EpicNNG expressed disappointment with the performance, they did seemingly allude to the build or the specific system they were playing on as the issue.

Contrary to this, however, Borderlands YouTuber Moxsy replied to EpicNNG's tweet, mentioning that their experience was great on Nintendo Switch 2:

So, why are there conflicting reports about Borderlands 4's performance on Nintendo Switch 2? It is still unclear, so we may have to chalk it down to the game's demo build performing variably across systems.

On the flipside, we have an actual off-screen recording of Borderlands 4 on Nintendo Switch 2 from Gamescom 2025. We have footage from YouTuber MDee14 in the video embedded above, which was the first publicly available, full-blown gameplay video of the handheld rendition. Another is from YouTuber Steve Sayler, who also checked the game out at Fan Expo 2025 in Toronto, Canada.

As seen in both videos, the game was tested in the system's Docked Mode on a TV screen, which allows the console to run at its maximum possible speeds as designed by Nintendo and Nvidia. The demo saw players navigate one of the early-game Vaults - gauntlet areas with challenging enemies - leading to a powerful boss fight at the end, the latter of which is not featured here.

Fans will have to wait until launch to see how Borderlands 4 truly performs on Nintendo Switch 2 (Image via 2K)

That said, performance issues like slow asset streaming or bad input delay, as per EpicNNG, are nowhere to be seen or mentioned by others. MDee14's footage does feature some performance slowdowns when the action heats up, in addition to small hitches, which lines up with the Nintendo Switch 2 performance promised by developer Gearbox Software.

Besides these occasional frame rate drops and stutters, the experience seems relatively stable. This also reflects footage captured by Steve Saylor. Their video, centered around accessibility in Borderlands 4 for disabled gamers, also showcases gameplay from the Canadian venue. With mixed reports from either side, we'll have to wait and see how the final product performs.