Borderlands 3 surprisingly loses 6% of its PS5 audience post-movie

The recent Borderlands movie has caused a spike in players for most of the Borderlands series. However, the Borderlands 3 PS5 player count has seen a drop.

Sean Lawson

Published 14 Aug 2024

Those Borderlands 3 trophies aren't pulling in the players like the other Borderlands trophy lists are. In fact, Borderlands 3 has seen a PS5 player count drop since the movie debuted. However, there may be a specific reason why one of the best FPS games isn't doing so well with PlayStation fans.

Borderlands 3 sees a player count drop on PS5 and PS4 while other games climb

Borderlands 3 has seen a 6.29% decrease in players since the movie launched
This decrease is likely due to Borderlands 3 being a PS Plus Essential game for July 2024
Borderlands and Borderlands 2 have seen a substantial player count increase

Using a gameplay data sample from over 3.1 million active PSN accounts (courtesy of our partnership with GameInsights, which draws the majority of its PSN data from sources beyond TrueTrophies), we've been able to track the weekly player count data of every game on PS5 and PS4.

This, of course, includes all three of the Borderlands games that have seen varying degrees of success since the Borderlands movie came to cinemas in August 2024. However, the movie has seen the fandom up in arms because it does not reflect the Borderlands games correctly, especially regarding the over-the-top violence we all know and love.

Unfortunately, this also appears to have impacted Borderlands 3, which has seen a 6.29% drop in its PS4 and PS5 player count since the film debuted.

Granted, it's worth pointing out that Borderlands 3 was part of the PS Plus Essential games lineup of July 2024. This will have brought in a hefty amount of players that are now likely dropping off the game slightly faster than new players are coming in. Hence the decline in the Borderlands 3 player count.

With that all in mind, the Borderlands movie hasn't brought just doom and gloom to the world. In fact, since the film's debut, both Borderlands and Borderlands 2 have seen a substantial increase in their PlayStation player counts.

Borderlands Game of the Year for PS4 has seen a whopping 47.45% increase in its player count and the PS4 version of Borderlands 2 has seen a respectable 32.03% increase. So, at least something positive has come from the Borderlands movie.

The Borderlands series as a whole has seen a player increase of 12.12%, which is an impressive feat for the franchise considering that these games have been around for many years and have been played to death.

I'm a huge Borderlands fan, so I am happy to see the first two games receiving a bit more love since the movie dropped. Plus, I believe the third game still could claw back some players in the coming weeks. Which is your favorite Borderlands game? Should we add any of them to our list of the best PS4 games? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

Chart compiled using gameplay data from over 3.1 million active PlayStation accounts (not just TrueTrophies accounts). Chart information is copyright GameInsights. Regarding this data:

When an account opens a game, this is registered as a game being played. Accounts can only register a game once per week.
Our data is good for suggesting general trends — we represent this using percentages, not numbers.

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Written by Sean Lawson

Staff Writer Sean focuses on the geekiest Sony news. He specializes in PlayStation trophies, the best PS Plus games, RPGs, and fighting games. Sean uses his years of experience to cover Dragon Age The Veilguard for PS5, all while he dives into his favorite game series like Mass Effect, Tomb Raider, and Persona.