Borderlands 4’s $130+ Super Deluxe Edition Is an Insult—Here’s Why I’m Boycotting It

It honestly feels like somebody just spat in my face and asked for a tip. That’s how mad I am about Borderlands 4’s $130+ Super Deluxe Edition. I’ve been playing Borderlands since the day the first loot fell off Nine-Toes and my potato PC could barely handle it. I’ve sunk years into the franchise, gone four-player split-screen when everyone else had “moved on”-because, to me, Borderlands is pure fun with friends and a love letter to wild co-op chaos. But this? $130 for Story Packs and “premium” cosmetics? Enough is enough. I’m not just skipping this edition-I’m calling on every gamer who gives a damn to boycott these exploitative practices before they become the new normal. Here’s why.

The $130+ Super Deluxe Edition of Borderlands 4 Is the Final Straw-And It’s Time for a Boycott

• Enough is enough—$130+ editions devalue both gamers and games, fragmenting the community and exploiting fandom.
• Your FOMO is their business plan: The “real fans will pay more” mentality is pure manipulation, not respect.
• This isn’t about extra plastic loot—it’s about publishers holding actual game content hostage behind a paywall.
• We have the power to stop the march toward $100+ editions—if we refuse to play along now.

I’ve Spent Hundreds of Hours in Borderlands, But This Crosses a Line

I’m not some outsider throwing rocks at a franchise I barely know. I played Borderlands 2 with my brother until we memorized every vending machine spawn, farmed Bunker until my eyes glazed over, and still keep my old Borderlands 1 save for nostalgia runs. These games weren’t just a hobby—they were my go-to “hell yeah, let’s blow off steam” with friends. Over the last decade, I’ve watched microtransactions creep in, Season Passes become “the norm,” and DLC gated behind Deluxe Editions. I’ve gritted my teeth but still ponied up—sometimes resentfully—just to keep playing the content with my co-op crew. But Borderlands 4? This isn’t a little price bump. It’s a slap in the face for every fan who made the series what it is.

Let’s Break Down What You’re Actually Getting for $130—And Why It’s Bullshit

Let me be brutally honest: The “Super Deluxe” package is not some collector’s dream. Here’s what your $130+ (and in some regions, way more) actually gets you:

• The base game ($70 tier—already expensive enough)
• Two Story Packs. Neither fully revealed, just “trust us, it’s big”
• Four Bounty Packs with bosses and side activities (again, no actual details or gameplay shown at reveal)
• Skin bundles and digital cosmetic fluff
• Bonus loot for preordering, tempting you with FOMO

But here’s the real kicker: the $150 Collector’s Edition doesn’t even include the game. Imagine saving up for this “ultimate” package, unboxing your fancy shelf filler, and realizing you still don’t own the disc. That’s not just greedy—it’s outright disrespectful. I don’t care if you love statues, artbooks, or Claptrap bobbleheads. If a “Collector’s Edition” doesn’t have the damn game, it’s an overpriced LEGO set.

This Isn’t “Extra”—It’s Gaming Content Held Hostage

Let’s talk about the most dangerous part of all this. These aren’t just “optional extras.” In Borderlands 2, any new DLC character or campaign would drop, you could scoop it up for $10 or grab a GotY edition a year later and get the whole thing for less than what BL4 is charging for a season pass. Now? Entire playable Vault Hunters and big story arcs are held hostage in a bundle—and if you skip it, your squad gets split in two, and you’re straight-up missing big slices of the Borderlands narrative machine. When did “playing with my friends” go from being the game to being a “premium feature”?

It’s the FOMO Playbook, and It Works—But Only If You Let It

I get why it’s tempting. Gearbox and 2K have doubled down: “Real fans buy the Super Deluxe Edition,” said Randy Pitchford (he really said it). They know the community has built Borderlands up to this iconic status, and they’re betting nostalgia and FOMO will override common sense. Hell, I’ve fallen for it before—Overwatch, Destiny, even Pokemon at times. But this isn’t just an annoying upcharge. This is a carefully constructed test: will you pay to keep up, or will you finally say “no”?

Believe me, I’ve stared down the “purchase” button more times than I’d like to admit, because I love having all the content and the thrill of launch-day discoveries. But what I hate more—what really pisses me off—is being taken for granted. Being told my loyalty is just a figure on a spreadsheet, not a community that deserves respect.

What Picking Up That Super Deluxe Edition Really Signals to the Industry

Publishing giants are watching this pricing experiment like hawks. They already shifted the “normal” price to $70 (and we let them). Now they’re feeling out whether $130+ editions can quietly become the expected buy-in for anyone wanting the full experience. You pay today—next year, the rest of AAA follows suit. I genuinely fear that if BL4 pulls in big numbers at this price point, $100+ editions (with main story content locked in) will be the new floor, not the ceiling.

You only need to look at the pipeline—every big game this year pushes Deluxe/Gold/Ultimate editions, many with “early access” or entire side stories walled off. It’s not “supporting the devs.” It’s publishers milking loyal fans who just want to keep up with their friends.

Some Might Call It “Optional”—But That’s a Lie

Let’s torch the “It’s just optional extras!” argument. When extra Vault Hunters—core to the identity of Borderlands—are paywalled, when entire campaign arcs are exclusive to the highest-paying fans, that’s not optional. That’s the definition of “content held hostage.” I don’t care if you never want to touch a cosmetic or side mission—if story and coop gameplay are split, your base experience is incomplete, and your community is fractured. And if you think the rising cost of game development justifies $130+ for fundamentals, look at the profits 2K hauls in from microtransactions alone. There’s no excuse except pure, predatory greed.

This Is a Pattern—And We Have the Power to Stop It

I watched this same mess infect fighting games (I main Guilty Gear, and the drip-feed of fighters as paid “pass content” drove me insane) and saw “season passes” turn from fun bonus packs into essential purchases just to avoid missing out on the fundamental game loop. I used to think, “maybe they’ll stop if we yell loud enough.” But publishers only care about one thing: sales.

They dropped the rumored $80 base price after gamers exploded online and in the forums—but they still upped the ante with bigger, more expensive editions. If we break here and accept $130+ as “the price of doing business,” Borderlands 5 (and every other AAA game in 2026) will normalize $150 launch editions. Where does it end?

How Do We Fight Back? Boycott. Inform. Demand Better.

• Stop preordering these cash-grab editions. Don’t feed the hype machine with your day-one dollars.
• Wait for the real “Ultimate Edition” a year in, with all the content for half the price if you must play it at all.
• Get vocal. Make sure every publisher, Gearbox included, knows why you’re skipping out. Tweet, post, review-bomb (with intelligent, not toxic, feedback).
• Tell your friends. Half my buddies don’t even realize the $70 version is intentionally incomplete.
• Reward games and devs that don’t pull this crap. Buy their stuff, talk them up, show that fair pricing matters to you.

If We Give In Now, Gaming Loses

This is about more than one game, or one franchise. Every time we shrug and fork over the extra $60 for “the real game,” we’re devaluing our role as players. Games are supposed to unite us, not divide us by our willingness (or ability) to pay a ransom on launch day. I want to live in a world where my friends and I can buy one copy of a game, jump in together, and experience everything—without calculating what each of us didn’t “splurge for.”

My hope? That Borderlands 4 sells well… but the Super Deluxe Edition bombs. I want to see publishers forced to rethink how they treat their fans, not emboldened to push further next year. I’m skipping Borderlands 4 at launch—and it stings, because this franchise means something to me. But I’d rather lose out on some loot than become a wallet with legs.

TL;DR—My Line in the Sand

Borderlands 4’s $130+ Super Deluxe Edition is a cash grab masquerading as “premium content.” If you buy it, you’re telling every publisher that it’s okay to cut up their games and upsell die-hard fans for the privilege of playing the core experience. This is where I draw the line—and if you love gaming as much as I do, you’ll call bullshit and vote with your wallet, too.

Let’s reclaim gaming from the bean-counters—and send a message that we’re more than just dollar signs.