Borderlands 3 Reminds Us Stadia Can't Keep Its Promises

Borderlands 3 has finally released on Google Stadia, marking one of the early game releases for the platform since its launch in November. Unfortunately, it also marks yet another promise that Google has broken with its gaming platform. On launch, the Stadia version of Borderlands 3 only has updates as recent as Oct. 24. Any updates beyond that aren't included in the current build of the game, despite them being on every other platform.

By missing the most up-to-date version of the game, Stadia can't deliver the most current iteration of Borderlands 3. When Google promised Stadia could stream games without us waiting around for updates, we didn't expect them to mean that half of those updates would be gone. This means Stadia players won't be able to play the game at Mayhem 4 difficulty, and are currently missing out on the Takedown at the Maliwan Blacksite event.

It also means the first DLC for Borderlands 3, Moxxi's Heist of the Handsome Jackpot, won't be coming to Stadia, either — at least for the time being. These updates will come to Stadia sometime in 2020, months after reaching other platforms.

And somehow, it gets worse. Several Redditors have expressed disappointment with how well Borderlands 3 runs on Stadia. When running the game through the Chromecast Ultra — the only way to play games in 4K HDR currently — you can expect performance to stay around 30 frames-per-second. In Balanced mode, the game can maintain 60 frames-per-second at 1080p resolution, although some have reported more dropped frames compared to other games.

The only bright side to this whole debacle is that you can pick up Borderlands 3 for a decent price on Stadia. Until Jan. 7, you can pick up the Standard Edition for $38.99, with the Deluxe Edition costing $51.99. If you want the Super Deluxe Edition, which comes with the season pass, it'll cost $77.99. Whether that price is worth buying a two-month-old version of Borderlands 3 is up to you.