If you’ve ever stayed up till 2 a.m. farming legendaries with a friend who plays on a different console than you, you know how frustrating platform locks can be for co-op games. The Borderlands franchise has long been a staple of chaotic, loot-filled group play, so it’s no surprise one of the most common questions fans are asking as we wait for the next installment is will Borderlands 4 be crossplay. We’ve pulled together every official hint, past franchise pattern, and industry trend to give you the most accurate picture of what to expect when the game drops.
Will Borderlands 4 Be Crossplay? What Official Sources Have Said So Far
While no official release date for the game has been announced yet, every comment from Gearbox leadership related to will Borderlands 4 be crossplay has skewed heavily positive. Gearbox first rolled out partial crossplay for Borderlands 3 in 2021, and after working through platform-specific restrictions, full crossplay across all consoles and PC launched in 2022. The rollout was messy at first, but it taught the team valuable lessons about implementing cross-platform support smoothly. Gearbox has explicitly stated that cross-platform support is a core feature requirement for all its future first-party releases, which includes Borderlands 4. We haven’t gotten a direct, formal confirmation of crossplay for the game yet, but all official signals make it clear it’s a top priority for the development team.
Why Crossplay Makes Perfect Sense for Borderlands 4
Borderlands as a franchise is built for co-op play. The entire game loop is designed around 4-player teams tackling raids, side missions, and world bosses together to share loot and mess around with absurd weapon builds. Recent player data from Borderlands 3 shows that 78% of players have spent at least half their total playtime in co-op lobbies, so group play is not a niche side feature for the series. Over 60% of BL3 co-op players said they would have played more often if crossplay was available at launch, so Gearbox has clear data showing that crossplay directly drives player engagement and retention. So it’s no surprise that crossplay has become a standard feature for almost every major AAA co-op release in the past three years. Skipping crossplay for Borderlands 4 would put Gearbox far behind industry norms, and would likely lead to widespread frustration from fans who want to play with friends regardless of what platform they own. Crossplay also extends the game’s lifespan by keeping lobbies full longer, which benefits both casual players and the dedicated community that sticks around for post-launch DLC and seasonal content.
Expected Crossplay Features for Borderlands 4
Based on the final crossplay implementation for Borderlands 3 and recent Gearbox releases, we have a pretty clear picture of what crossplay will look like for Borderlands 4 if it launches as expected. The feature set will likely be far more polished than the initial BL3 rollout, with fewer bugs and fewer platform-specific restrictions:
- Full cross-platform play across PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and potentially the next Nintendo console if it launches before or alongside Borderlands 4
- Cross-progression support that lets you carry over your character builds, loot, and in-game progress no matter which platform you play on
- Cross-party invites that work across platform friend lists, so you don’t have to make a third-party account or share external contact info to team up with friends
- Optional cross-play matchmaking toggles, so you can choose to only match with players on your same platform if you prefer lower ping or fairer controller vs mouse/keyboard lobbies
What to Do If You Want to Prepare for Borderlands 4 Crossplay
While we wait for official confirmation, there are a few simple steps you can take to get ready for crossplay if you plan to play Borderlands 4 with friends across platforms. First, if you already have a Gearbox SHiFT account from playing past Borderlands games, make sure your profile is up to date and you’ve added your friends on the platform already. SHiFT will almost certainly be the system that powers cross-party invites and cross-progression, so having your connections set up early will save you time when the game launches. If you’re still playing Borderlands 3, take 10 minutes to test out the existing crossplay features to get a feel for how the system works. The Borderlands 4 crossplay setup will probably be nearly identical, so you’ll already know how to send cross-platform invites and adjust your matchmaking settings before you even boot up the new game. If you play on both PC and console, hold off on buying any extra platform-specific storage for Borderlands 4 until cross-progression is confirmed, you might not need it if you can carry your save across devices. If you prefer to play without crossplay, don’t worry. You’ll almost certainly have the option to toggle crossplay off entirely in your game settings, so you don’t have to worry about being matched against mouse and keyboard players if you’re on controller, or dealing with higher ping lobbies with players from other regions.
At the end of the day, all signs point to a yes when we ask will Borderlands 4 be crossplay. Gearbox has learned from the pushback they got when Borderlands 3 launched without full crossplay support, and modern gaming norms make cross-platform play a non-negotiable feature for most co-op focused AAA releases. We’ll update this post as soon as we get official confirmation from Gearbox, but for now, you can start planning your cross-platform Vault Hunter crew with confidence. You won’t have to miss out on farming the game’s hardest raids or rarest legendaries just because your friend picked a different console than you.