Gearbox isn't exactly known for subtle marketing, and Loveless is about as subtle as a Torgue shotgun. Borderlands 4 just recorded its highest Steam concurrent player count since the weeks immediately following its September 2025 launch, and the combination of a free weekend and a new DLC Vault Hunter who has already been called "gooner bait" by half the internet is why.
From 2,400 to 20,000: what actually changed
To understand how big this spike is, you need to know where the game was sitting before it happened. Borderlands 4 launched to a peak of 304,000 concurrent Steam users, which sounds impressive until you watch that number crater. By six or seven weeks post-launch, it had settled around 15,000. More recently, it was floating at roughly 2,400 peak concurrent players on any given day.
This week, that number jumped past 20,000. That's the single largest one-day spike the game has seen since release, and it didn't happen by accident.
Two things hit at the same time. Gearbox launched a free weekend on Steam, giving anyone on the fence a no-cost reason to jump in. Free weekends reliably move the needle for any game, but the timing here was deliberate. Loveless, the newest Vault Hunter added to the game, dropped alongside it.
Who is Loveless and why is everyone talking about her
Loveless the Hacker is described by Gearbox as a "superior lifeform," a cybernetically-enhanced fighter with a split psyche who leans into all-out aggression and agility. Her kit sounds like a solid pick for players who like fast, high-risk playstyles.
Here's the thing, though. The conversation online isn't really about her abilities. It's about her cosmetics.
The character costs $9.99 as a standalone purchase, but players who own the Super Deluxe Edition or the Vault Hunter Pack already have access. The Ornate Order Pack included with those tiers comes with an exclusive skin that has generated... let's say a significant amount of discussion on social media. Posts from players reacting to the outfit have been spreading rapidly, with one going viral with the caption "DEAR. MOTHER. OF. GOD."
Gearbox clearly knows what it's doing. A revealing character skin paired with a free weekend is a textbook move for re-engaging a playerbase that had largely moved on. Whether you find it clever or cynical probably depends on how you feel about the broader trend of games using character designs as a retention tool.
The bigger picture for a game that had a rough start
Borderlands 4 launched to a relatively mixed reception. A peak of 304,000 Steam players sounds healthy, but the drop-off to 15,000 within two months told a different story. The game never quite found the sustained audience that Borderlands 2 built over years of content updates.
A 20,000 peak isn't a comeback in any traditional sense. The free weekend inflates those numbers artificially, and a chunk of those players won't convert to paying customers. But it does signal that there's still an audience willing to return when Gearbox gives them a reason.
The question is whether Loveless and the free weekend bring back players who stay. If you're one of the people jumping back in this weekend, the Borderlands 4 Vault Hunter guide is worth checking before you commit to a build, since Loveless plays differently from the launch roster and her split-psyche mechanics take some getting used to.
For anyone going deeper into the game's systems, the legendary enhancements guide covers the farming and build optimization side of things that becomes relevant once you're past the story. The free weekend ends soon, so if Loveless is the reason you're finally trying Borderlands 4, the clock is ticking.
