Borderlands 4The battle to retain its player base has been ongoing since launch, releasing major balance updates and performance patches to ensure the game not only runs smoothly, but is fair to all playstyles. Despite not being a live service game, Borderlands 4 is about as live a service as it gets without fully committing to the model, with a post-launch roadmap clearly aimed at continuity. So far, post-launch content has been off the mark for some players, with the upcoming release of its first Bounty Pack, How Rush Saved Mercenary Day, a sign that it may be putting all its eggs in the wrong basket.
Each of the Borderlands 4's Bounty Packs plans to bring a wealth of new content to the game, albeit at a price. On paper, it sounds like it could only help the game's longevity in the long run, potentially drawing players back in on a regular basis. Borderlands 4 community has been voicing their concerns lately, and they don't seem to match what Bounty Packs are advertising. Even the first Bounty Pack, due to launch on November 20th, has already drawn criticism for its apparent priorities.
Borderlands 4's Bounty Pack spends too much on cosmetics
Announced before release as part of Borderlands 4Bounty Packs are designed to act as mini DLC drops that introduce new missions, areas, bosses, rewards and progression hooks through Vault Cards. Instead of being big, story-driven expansions like before Borderlands season passes, Bounty Packs aim to deliver frequent injections of content aimed at keeping players engaged between major updates. In theory, they are meant to provide Borderlands 4 post-launch persistence and serve as a replacement for traditional live service seasons.
Here's what each Borderlands 4 Bounty Pack includes:
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New unique area, with new missions and a unique Boss
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Vault card with 24 cosmetics and 4 legendary gear
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New Vault Hunter cosmetics
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New vehicle with new cosmetics
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New legendary gear
The harsh reality is that the majority of these Bounty Packs are not actual content but rather the illusion of content. The majority of these additions are actually cosmetic in nature, and with Borderlands 4 since skins are primarily a single-player first-person game, skins don't matter as much to players as they might have in a different context.
The new “missions” included in the Bounty Packs are presented as vague enough that it's safe to assume they're just main missions. There's only one new boss in each pack, and the “new unique area” doesn't have to be anything big to be labeled as such. Finally, the “new legendary gear” consists of four rollable pieces, and given how the current Horrors of Kairos event's legendary gear has been received, if these Bounty Packs don't deliver in that arena, they'll likely be written off as worthless.
But the core of the game's Bounty Packs is that they seem to think players will be happy with Borderlands 4s post-launch content as long as it contains more cosmetics. Based on the thread on a recent X post by @EpicNNG, but that's clearly not the case. Below @EpicNNG's image of the How Rush Saved Mercenary Day Bounty Pack key art and the statement “Everything rides on this landing”, many players expressed their frustration with Borderlands 4s apparent favor for its cosmetic game. One player even said that the only community cares about are new legendary weapons, and there are already too many cosmetics.
To the extent that many of these players have, the game's post-launch content has been chock full of cosmetics, with its community challenges being some of the driving forces behind it. With Borderlands 4s endgame already under intense scrutiny, it's only a matter of time before the playerbase it has left decides to jump ship if it doesn't change course soon and start offering more substantial content.
The problem may actually be that Borderlands 4 treats itself like a live service game when it just isn't. It seems to be the literal appearance of the content that keeps players interested, but judging by the comments on Reddit threads and posts like @EpicNNG's, it's not enough to keep players around much longer.
- Released
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September 12, 2025
- ESRB
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Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, In-Game Purchases, User Interaction
