Recently on February 27, Borderlands 2 was updated, and it appears as though it has introduced bugs, performance and matchmaking issues.

This Reddit thread from Reddit user dookarion explains that players are now forced to create a "SHiFT" profile name, which also becomes the players in-game name. Previously, the player's Steam name would be shown, but that no longer seems to be the case. The SHiFT name must also be unique, and the game will no longer allow the player to play the game that they purchased until the profile is created, even if they have no intention of enabling crossplay.

The image players see upon launching the game. Note how the rest of the game is grayed out.

Apparently, according to a few Steam reviews (which have been remarkably negative 76% recently compared to its overall 95% average) compatibility between the Windows and Mac versions of the game is now broken as well.

Apparently Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel was also hit by the update, with users complaining that the game's online is unplayable because SHiFT isn't working, or that the update broke all of the mods and introduced "intrusive" Borderlands 3 ads to the main menu.

A post on the Steam forums also explains that there is a way to remove aggressive Borderlands 3 advertising from Borderlands 2, which has players delete or rename a specific file. Another post on the forums states that they were able to play Borderlands 2 online for many hours without issue before the update. After the update, there are repeated lockups and the users' group finds the game to be "no longer playable as a group."

Apparently, there are also bugs such as vending machines killing players and vehicles being one-shot kills have now been introduced into the game, which seems to have taken a dramatic turn for the worse since the February 27 update.

Quick Take

This is just another stupid decision by Gearbox Software amongst many. They literally cannot do a single thing these days without blowing something up or otherwise rendering something unusable. Do I sound slightly bitter? Well, maybe that comes from how they botched Aliens: Colonial Marines and killed off TimeGate Studios, an innovative developer that released decent games such as the Kohan series and Section 8: Prejudice. If Gearbox were to suffer the same fate, I would shed no tears.

What do you think of this news? Have been affected by the update to Borderlands 2? Do you play Borderlands 2 over 3, or vice versa? Let us know in the comments!