There are plenty of things in this world that don’t make sense, and that absolutely applies to the gaming industry, where all manner of decisions by developers and publishers don’t make sense. Sometimes, it applies to how they handle a game and its contents. Other times, it pertains to their decision to do live-service titles over everything else. Or, in a few cases, it’s about teams that decide to make big announcements about certain games, and then don’t talk about them again for an incredibly long time. If not obvious, we’re talking about Borderlands 4, and the curious case of the Nintendo Switch 2 version.
For those who don’t recall, when Gearbox Software started to truly “make the rounds” about its title, they made it clear that the game would come to the Nintendo Switch 2 not as a “port,” like with other titles in the series, but as a true “launch version.” Granted, the Switch 2 Edition would come out a little later than the others, but a month, at the time, was not that big a deal in the grand scheme of things.
However, upon launch, backlash started to hit Gearbox, as some of their decisions had led to Borderlands 4 being released in an unoptimized and broken state. Almost immediately, the team promised to fix it, and one of those “fixes” came in the form of delaying the Nintendo Switch 2 edition “indefinitely.”
They meant it, too, as we have not heard a single thing about the Switch 2 version since then. That includes it not being mentioned about talks of the game’s future, the DLC, and the various patches and hotfixes that have been released in the time since the delay. So, what is going on here? Why haven’t we gotten an update on when the game will arrive on Nintendo’s platform?
The simple answer here is: it’s not ready. Gearbox made a big deal about the title coming to the Switch 2, and thus, the team might be a little gun-shy about dropping the game in a broken state and getting even MORE backlash as a result. Plus, while the versions that are out now are better than they were in September, there are still plenty of things to fix, and gamers continue to call them out for certain woes.
It may seem unfair for Nintendo faithful to keep waiting for this title’s release on the platform, but the alternative is getting it now and not having the best version available to enjoy.
