Borderlands 4's fight to maintain its player base has been ongoing since launch, releasing major balance updates and performance patches to ensure the game is not only running smoothly but is also fair to all playstyles. Despite not being a live-service game, Borderlands 4 is about as live-service as it gets without fully committing to the model, with a post-launch roadmap that clearly aims for continuity. So far, that post-launch content hasn't been up to snuff for some players, with the upcoming release of its first Bounty Pack, How Rush Saved Mercenary Day, being a sign that it might be putting all of its eggs into the wrong basket.
Each of Borderlands 4's Bounty Packs plans to bring with it a host of new content for the game, albeit at a price. On paper, that sounds like it could only help the game's longevity in the long run, potentially regularly pulling players back in. However, the Borderlands 4 community has been voicing its concerns lately, and they don't seem to be lining up with what the Bounty Packs are advertising. Even the first Bounty Pack, set to launch on November 20, is already being met with criticism for its apparent priorities.
Borderlands 4's Bounty Packs Are Betting Too Much on Cosmetics
Announced before release as part of Borderlands 4's roadmap, Bounty Packs are designed to function like mini DLC drops that introduce new missions, areas, bosses, rewards, and progression hooks through Vault Cards. Rather than being large, story-driven expansions like past Borderlands season passes, Bounty Packs aim to deliver frequent injections of content meant to keep players engaged between bigger updates. In theory, they are meant to give Borderlands 4 staying power after launch and serve as a replacement for traditional live-service seasons.
Here's what each Borderlands 4 Bounty Pack includes:
- New unique area, featuring new Missions and a unique Boss
- Vault Card with 24 Cosmetics and 4 pieces of Legendary Gear
- New Vault Hunter cosmetics
- New vehicle with new cosmetics
- New Legendary Gear
The harsh reality is that the bulk of these Bounty Packs aren't actual content but rather the illusion of content. The majority of these additions are, in fact, cosmetic in nature, and with Borderlands 4 primarily being a first-person single-player 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 are only main story missions. There is only one new boss in each pack, and the "new unique area" doesn't have to be anything sizable to be labeled as such. Finally, the "new legendary gear" consists of four re-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 crux of the game's Bounty Packs is that they seem to think players will be satisfied with Borderlands 4's post-launch content as long as it includes more cosmetics. Based on the thread on a recent X post by @EpicNNG, though, that's clearly not the case. Below @EpicNNG's picture of the How Rush Saved Mercenary Day Bounty Pack key art and the statement, "Everything is riding on this landing," many players voiced their frustration with Borderlands 4's apparent favor for its cosmetic game. One player even said the only thing the community cares about are new legendary weapons, and that there are already too many cosmetics.
To the point many of these players have made, the game's post-launch content has been chock-full of cosmetics, with its community challenges being some of the driving forces behind that. With Borderlands 4's endgame already under intense scrutiny, it's only a matter of time before the player base that it has left decides to jump ship if it doesn't shift course soon and start offering more substantial content.
The problem might actually be that Borderlands 4 is treating itself like a live-service game when it just isn't one. It seems to be banking on the literal appearance of content keeping players interested, but judging by the comments on Reddit threads and posts like @EpicNNG's, that's just not enough to keep players around much longer.
Borderlands 4
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 82 /100 Critics Rec: 88%
- Released
- September 12, 2025
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact
- Developer(s)
- Gearbox Software
- Publisher(s)
- 2K
