Borderlands 4: The Curious Case of the Missing FOV Slider and Randy Pitchford's 'Fairness' Fantasies
AI Gaming News Author · IGN South Africa ·
Randy Pitchford's mysterious 'fairness' comments regarding Borderlands 4's missing console FOV slider have sparked confusion and frustration among players suffering from motion sickness, all while the game battles PC performance issues amidst a record-breaking launch.
Right, so you've been diving into Borderlands 4, yeah? Been blasting psychos and looting like there's no tomorrow? Good on ya, mate. But if you're one of the console crew, you might have noticed something a bit... off. Like trying to cast a magic missile and only half the spell comes out. We're talking about the missing Field of View (FOV) slider and, perhaps even more baffling, the vanishing motion blur toggle. And then there's Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford, dropping cryptic hints about 'fairness' that have left us all scratching our heads like we just stumbled out of a bad portal.
Before we dive into that rabbit hole, a big shout-out to IGN South Africa for initially wrangling this beast of a story. Their original piece, "Randy Pitchford Addresses Borderlands 4 Console FOV Slider Complaints: 'There's Some Dreams I Have Where an FOV Setting Might Affect Fairness'" got the ball rolling, and frankly, it's wilder than it first appeared.
Now, back to the console dilemma. PC players, you lucky devils, get all the bells and whistles – a FOV slider that goes up to 110 degrees for both on-foot and vehicle mayhem, plus full control over motion blur. But for those on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S? Nada. Zip. And fair dinkum, it's causing a bit of a ruckus. Flick through any gaming forum, and you'll see folks like redditor xInsaneAbilityx complaining, "Man, I've tried to play it twice today. Both times I get that ‘car-sick’ feel after about 15 minutes and have to stop." Or Dallywack3r chiming in, "Yeah I’m pretty sensitive to motion sickness and a narrow FOV in first-person makes me really dizzy. Combining that with motion blur just churns my stomach." It sounds like some players are getting a rather literal gut-punch from their gaming sessions, and that's not exactly the 'fun' Gearbox promised, is it?
Initially, the common wisdom (or perhaps just common sense) suggested this was all about performance. More FOV means more rendering, more strain on the console hardware, and potentially a dip in those sweet, sweet framerates. A reasonable trade-off, perhaps, to ensure a stable experience across the board. But then, Randy Pitchford himself waded into the fray on social media, adding a whole new layer of delightful confusion.
"Quickie for console friends: FOV settings," Pitchford began. "There's some dreams I have where an FOV setting might affect fairness. I can't really talk about it yet, but I see this is important to you so we're looking at it." He even threw in a poll, and let me tell you, the results were as clear as a perfectly brewed potion: 72% of nearly 25,000 voters went for "FOV slider or GTFO!" – which, let's be honest, is a pretty strong indicator of player sentiment.
Fairness? In a predominantly PvE (Player versus Environment) co-op game? Mate, that's like saying it's unfair if one wizard gets a cooler hat than another. It just doesn't quite track. The initial thought, of course, leaps to an unannounced PvP mode. But if that's the case, why would PC players have the FOV slider already? Is their fairness not as important? Redditors were quick to point out the logical gaps, with buddachickentml asking, "What does ‘fairness’ even mean?" and Airaen simply stating, "Yeah, how is it fair that PC players can change the FoV and console players can't?" It’s a bit like giving one party member a map to the dungeon and telling the other to just, well, feel their way in the dark, then calling it 'fair'.
Some speculated it might relate to fairness in terms of performance: a higher FOV lets you see more, giving an advantage, while a lower FOV might mean more stable frames, also a kind of advantage. So, by forcing a narrow FOV, perhaps everyone is 'equally disadvantaged' in terms of peripheral vision? It’s a theory that still feels a bit like trying to make sense of a scroll written in Goblin.
And the motion blur? Oh, that’s another head-scratcher. Pitchford tweeted that "we aren't down with motion blur and do not support it." He even suggested console players check their TV settings for "automatic BS." Which, again, makes absolutely no sense when the PC version has perfectly functional motion blur settings. It's like a wizard denying the existence of dragons while standing right next to a dragon.
While this FOV/motion blur kerfuffle was brewing, Borderlands 4 actually launched like a rocket on Steam, smashing previous concurrent player records with nearly 300,000 Vault Hunters diving in. Pitchford, ever the showman, even declared it impossible to break the servers, publicly challenging players to try. Talk about confidence!
But even a strong launch doesn't make everything peaches and cream. The PC version, despite its FOV freedom, has been plagued by performance issues, leading to a 'mixed' user review rating. Players are reporting everything from poor framerates even on high-end rigs to straight-up crashes. Gearbox responded with an Nvidia Optimization guide, which is fair enough, but then they dropped a pearl of wisdom that felt a tad... defensive: "Please note that any time you change any of your graphics settings, your shaders will need to recompile. Please keep playing for at least 15 minutes to see how your PC's performance has changed." Now, I'm all for giving games a chance to settle, but advising players to sit through 15 minutes of potentially janky performance *after* tweaking settings just to see if it worked? That feels less like optimisation advice and more like a magic spell to delay angry refund requests.
So, what have we learned, fellow digital adventurers? Borderlands 4 is a massive game with a massive launch, but it's stumbled out of the gate with some genuine head-scratchers for console players and technical woes for PC users. Randy Pitchford's 'fairness' comments, while intriguing in a 'what dimension did that come from?' sort of way, haven't exactly clarified things. They've just added to the swirling vortex of launch day confusion. It reminds you that even with the biggest games, the path to a smooth, universally enjoyable experience is often paved with good intentions and sometimes, frankly, a bit of chaotic wizardry that doesn't quite hit the mark. Here's hoping Gearbox can sort out these magical mishaps and give everyone the Borderlands experience they're dreaming of, motion sickness-free and with all the FOV their eyeballs can handle.
Original Source: IGN South Africa -
Tags: Borderlands4, Gearbox, GamingNews, FOVSlider, ConsoleGaming
Original article: IGN South Africa