Borderlands 4 was one of this fall’s most anticipated game releases, drawing attention from gamers around the globe. Launched on September 12, the new shooter from Gearbox Software ran into some technical hiccups and early criticism, but the livestreaming community welcomed it with warmth. During its debut weekend, Borderlands 4 broke into Twitch’s top five most-watched games and was featured on streams by major creators like Michael “shroud” Grzesiek, Jaryd “summit1g” Lazar, and Kai Cenat.
Borderlands 4 picks up the story where the third game left off in 2019. Players step into the shoes of a Vault Hunter leading the resistance against a ruthless dictator known as the Timekeeper and his army of synthetic soldiers. The game introduces new weapons, vehicles, and movement tools such as a grappling hook, along with seamless transitions between different locations.
Borderlands 4 launched with plenty of buzz, but also its fair share of issues. In the first few days, players reported critical errors and frequent crashes. While some criticized the game’s poor optimization and technical problems, others felt it simply didn’t live up to the massive pre-release hype. As a result, the game currently holds mixed reviews on Steam and just a 5.4/10 user score on Metacritic, though future patches may improve its standing. Critics and gaming outlets, on the other hand, were far more positive, giving Borderlands 4 an 84/100 on Metacritic.
Borderlands 4 livestreaming stats
During its launch weekend (September 12–14), Borderlands 4 streams generated over 5.5 million Hours Watched across 5,000 different channels. Twitch accounted for roughly 83.9% of the total viewership.
Over its launch weekend, Borderlands 4 ranked as the fifth most-watched game on Twitch, trailing only Dota 2, League of Legends, Valorant, and Grand Theft Auto V. The game’s category also hit a peak of 246,959 concurrent viewers, placing fifth overall.
Top categories on Twitch
Borderlands 4’s livestreaming success was fueled in large part by top creators. Leading the way was Canadian streamer Shroud, who played nearly 30 hours over the weekend and racked up close to 390,000 Hours Watched. The biggest spotlight, however, came from Kai Cenat: the American star is currently hosting his massive Mafiathon 3 and made sure to showcase Borderlands 4 along the way.
Twitch streamers for Borderlands 4 took part in Twitch Drops, giving viewers the chance to earn weapon skins and the ECHO-4 drone simply by watching the game’s streams. Rewards are available to claim until September 30.
Borderlands 4 got off to a stronger Twitch start than Borderlands 3: on release day, it pulled in 45.3% more viewership than its predecessor. However, in the days that followed, its numbers dropped well below what Borderlands 3 achieved in the same period. In other words, initial interest in Borderlands 4 was higher, but it also faded much faster.
Peak concurrent viewers were slightly better than Borderlands 3, though the game fell far behind the sequel in terms of the number of channels streaming at peak. You can find a detailed comparison of the two games’ stats on the release data page.
Whether you’re a longtime Vault Hunter or just tuning in for the hype, Borderlands 4 has clearly made its mark on Twitch. With top streamers, epic loot, and millions of Hours Watched, the game’s launch weekend proved that the Borderlands universe is still a force to be reckoned with, at least until the next adventure rolls in.