Gearbox Clarifies Borderlands 3 File Size On Nintendo Switch

Gearbox took to Twitter to address some strange rumors going around about their release of Borderlands 3 Ultimate Edition on the Nintendo Switch.

On the official Borderlands account, they said:

“We’re seeing technically incorrect reports that Borderlands 3 Ultimate Edition file size on Switch is 62 GB. Actual file size is 23.5 GB

We had to submit a file size at packaging time but kept working to optimize it. Exact breakdown:

Total: 23.5 GB

Base game: 8.5 GB

DLC: 15 GB”

If you may remember, when Gearbox made the surprise announcement that they would be bringing this special version of the game to the Nintendo Switch, it would be bundling in all the DLC that they had previously sold separately, making it a great value for Switch owners.

However, we didn’t really know anything about the file size and how they would be handling such concerns. Today, Gearbox was addressing rumors that Borderlands 3 was an even smaller size than 8 GB. What was implied in those rumors was that Gearbox produced a terrible port of the game to the Nintendo Switch. This brings to mind some great games that had less than stellar ports, such as The Outer Worlds, and most recently, Mortal Kombat 1.

So it was really important for Gearbox to clear the air on this issue. With the power of hindsight, it now does seem to be entirely manufactured. But idle gossip like this can have a real affect on this port’s potential sales, and it would be really unfair to malign it like this.

As you can see from this technical review of the game from YouTuber SwitchUp, Gearbox opted to lower the graphical technical effects for Borderlands 3 Ultimate Edition, but the game still looks quite decent. It’s definitely better looking than Mortal Kombat 1 is right now on the same platform. It’s actually comparable to how the Borderlands ports on the Switch panned out, so it won’t be a visually impressive showcase, but it meets the minimum expectations and then some.

More importantly, Gearbox focused on playability, and that means this game runs between 45 to 60 FPS at an uncapped framerate. While there are dips to 30 FPS and below, you really won’t feel it affects your gameplay. And even more impressively, that framerate works even if you activate gyro controls, which returns from the previous Borderlands ports.

Borderlands 3 Ultimate Edition releases today on the Nintendo Switch, on October 6, 2023. You can watch the SwitchUp technical review below.