A newly discovered bug in open-world looter shooter Borderlands 4 is letting players use a specific legendary gun to fling themselves across large sections of the game’s map. It looks wild and could be useful for speedrunners. But Gearbox is watching the glitch and might, if needed, fix it to avoid technical problems.
On September 19, Twitch streamer and content creator Bahroo shared a video of himself playing Borderlands 4 while pulling off a technique known online as “Cricket Jumping.” The bug relies on a legendary handgun known as the “Noisy Cricket” and its powerful kick, which sends players flying backward. The gun itself is a reference to the tiny gun with the same name seen in the ’90s sci-fi comedy film Men In Black. Normally, this isn’t the most useful trait. But if you tab out or pause the game at the right time while charging up a shot with the Noisy Cricket, you can send yourself flying for miles. It’s wild to watch in action.
Cricket Jumping has been a known bug since at least September 16, as demonstrated in this short video uploaded by YouTube user Platinum. But it wasn’t until Bahroo and other bigger streamers and creators began sharing videos of the technique that it caught on more and became more publicly known. And that attention eventually got Cricket Jumping spotted by Borderlands 4′s creative director Graeme Timmins. While you might assume someone from Gearbox would not be happy about this bug, Timmins seemed open to not patching it out, provided it doesn’t break the game.
“I’ve got my eye on this,” replied Timmins to a video of the bug on Twitter. “My only worry is streaming issues or if this introduces instability. Not out to ruin people’s fun, but can’t have it cause tech issues. For now, tho, not going to do anything until proven issues arise.”
So for now, it seems like Gearbox is going to let people Cricket Jump all around Kairos, assuming it doesn’t ruin the game for other players or introduce some nasty, less cool bug. Besides, I imagine Gearbox has a lot more to fix in Borderlands 4 right now, like horrible console performance problems, and isn’t too concerned about a silly super jump bug.
Borderlands 4 is out now! Yay, that’s exciting. However, on PC, it has some performance problems that might dampen your enjoyment. But hey, whatever, you’re here because you want to figure out how Shift Codes work and how to get Gold Keys in Borderlands 4. It’s a weird and some might say unnecessary system, but I’ll help walk you through it. And by the end you’ll be good to go.
First, before we go any further, you need to create a free Shift account. Shift is Gearbox’s very own video game network… thing. It has been around since Borderlands 2, and the website for Shift has basically not changed since then, so it looks old, but it is pretty easy to use. Just hop over to the Shift site and make a free account. Next, you’ll want to link whatever platform you play on, like Xbox, to your new Shift account. To do that, look to the top left of the website and click “Gaming Platforms.” Then select your platform and follow the steps to log in and get everything all synced up. Okay, now, you can start redeeming Shift codes. But first…
What Are Shift Codes?
That’s a great question! Here’s a sticker. Shift codes are alphanumeric codes that are handed out by official Gearbox and Borderlands-related accounts, often on social media. These codes will provide an in-game reward when correctly redeemed. Many people can use a single Shift code, but they often have expiration dates, so older codes might not work.
One of the best and most frequent providers of new Shift codes is Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford himself, so you might want to follow him on X. Sorry about that. And no, I don’t think Pitchford pushed to create Shift simply to get more followers online, but it’s a funny theory.
Technically, Shift codes exist for other Gearbox games, like Aliens: Colonial Marines and Battleborn, but uh… well, these days, 99 percent of Shift codes are connected to Borderlands and Wonderlands because nobody plays Gearbox’s other games. Anyway, once you have a Shift code, either from Pitchford or one of the many fan sites and accounts that catalog them, it’s time to enter that code on the Shift website!
How Do I Use A Shift Code?
There are two ways to enter a Shift code and gain its rewards. The first, and worst way, is to boot up the game the Shift code is connected to and enter the code via that title’s Shift screen. This is a cumbersome way to do this and has no benefits and many drawbacks. Do you really want to enter a long string of letters and numbers with an Xbox gamepad and on-screen keyboard? Nah.
The better way to use your Shift Codes is to do so on your phone or PC. Once you’re logged into your Shift account, you can just copy the code and hop over to the website. Then you just click “Rewards” and pop your Shift code into the empty box.
Depending on the code, you’ll likely need to specify a platform. So, for example, if you put in a Shift code for a Gold Key in Borderlands 4, the game will ask you what platforms you want to redeem it on and show you every platform you have linked. Fun fact: Most codes can be reused for each connected platform. If you enter it in correctly, you’ll get a prompt letting you know, and the rewards feed below where you entered the code will update to show you what you just earned, in what game, and on which platform.
Wait, I Want Gold Keys, Not Shift Codes!
Calm down. Shift codes are how you get Gold Keys. And while it is true that not all Shift codes provide Gold Keys for various Borderlands games—some provide cosmetics and other bonuses—the vast majority of codes in 2025 will give you Gold Keys.
Just keep in mind that Gold Keys, once redeemed, can’t be used in any other Borderlands game. I have nearly 80 of the bastards waiting to be used in Borderlands 3, but none of them can make the leap to Borderlands 4. It makes me very sad.
How Do I Use These Gold Keys In Borderlands 4?
All Gold Keys in all Borderlands titles, including Borderlands 4, are used to open big gold chests that can be found in the hub areas of the various games. These chests have a high chance of dropping really good loot, including rare legendary guns and gear. In Borderlands 4, there are actually a few gold chests located at various safehouses and other points of interest, but be aware you can’t open a Gold chest until you unlock the Outbounder’s village near the starting area of the game in the Fadefields.
To use a key, just go up to the chest and hit the open button. But be warned! You really shouldn’t do this until you are at least level 40, as early on in the game you’ll likely just replace whatever you get with better gear quickly as you level up. Also, if you’re playing with randos or greedy friends, be aware that the gear you get from the chest will fly out of it after 30 seconds or so, and at that point, anyone can grab it. This happened to me. I lost a great revolver. My friends laughed. I grew more bitter.
And that’s all you need to know about Shift codes and Gold Keys. If you want lots of Shift Codes for Borderlands 4,I’d recommend this account on Twitter that rounds them all up and posts them with a direct link to the Shift site, making it easy to snag some codes and keys on your phone while you are out and about. Or follow Randy Pitchford on Twitter, I guess?
Borderlands 4 is out now on PC via Steam and the Epic Store. And the looter shooter sequel is already the biggest Borderlands launch on Steam, with over 200,000 concurrent players just a few hours after its release. But reviews on Steam aren’t great, as many players are struggling to even play the co-op FPS.
On September 11, Borderlands 4 launched on PC. The long-awaited sequel to Gearbox’s Borderlands 3 is a bigger, better, and wilder experience than the previous game, featuring a host of smart changes and additions to the classic looting-shooting formula. However, that’s only the case if you can actually play the game and enjoy it. And on PC, players are reporting lots of performance issues, even on hardware that Gearbox listed as meeting the needed specs.
As of 4:30 pm EST on Steam, Borderlands 4 has about 2,000 reviews that are perfectly divided between negative and positive, giving the game a 50 percent mixed status. That’s no good! Scrolling through reviews, the biggest complaints seem to be not about the content of the game, but about how poorly it performs on various hardware setups. Players are also complaining about stuttering and hitching, or being forced to use DLSS to play the game at a stable framerate. Others can’t even boot the game up, reporting crashes before they even get into the action.
Of course, there are also plenty of reviews from people saying they had no issues at all and claiming that people complaining need to upgrade their PCs. This is the internet, so of course it devolved into a war with various sides and factions.
In the reviews on Steam, the most popular culprits people are blaming for the bad performance include Unreal Engine 5 and DRM protection software Denuvo. Over the last year or so, Unreal Engine 5 has become a target online as players believe the engine isn’t well-suited to big games and is hard to optimize. The complaints have gotten so loud online that Epic CEO Tim Sweeney even stepped in recently to defend the engine and lay the blame on devs who aren’t focused on optimization early enough in the cycle.
My experience playing Borderlands 4 on PC
I’ve been playing Borderlands 4 on PC for the last week, and my experience has been up and down. When I first got the game, I was playing on an RTX 3070 and struggled to run it at 1080p at 60FPS. I upgraded my rig to an RTX 5070 (something I had been planning to do for a few months now), and Borderlands 4 ran much better. However, I still found that I needed to run the game with DLSS on and frame gen to reach 120 FPS at 1080 with some settings kicked down to medium. Considering the specs in the machine, I was surprised by how power hungry the game is, and I’ll admit that I continue to be disappointed with Unreal Engine 5 games.
That said, ever since I found some settings that worked and downloaded the latest drivers, which weren’t available when I first got access to the game, I’ve been having a great time playing the game on PC. It mostly locks to 120 with my current settings and setup, and it feels great. I should also point out, though, that there’s been some chatter indicating that the day-one patch for the game, which arrived shortly before launch, may have caused problems that weren’t present when critics and content creators were playing it pre-release. In my quick tests, I’ve found the most recent patch, the one people are playing with on Steam right now, seems to bring with it some issues that weren’t present before the day-one patch. But I need to play more to really see if things are broken.
I hope Gearbox issues a patch on PC soon to help improve things a bit. Or at the very least, get rid of Denuvo ASAP.
Troubled gaming conglomerate Embracer announced Thursday that it has agreed to sell Gearbox Entertainment, the studio behind the Borderlands games, to Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two for $460 million.
The deal makes a lot of sense; Take-Two has been the publisher for Borderlands through its 2K Games label since long before Gearbox was acquired by Embracer in 2021. In its press release, 2K said the next Borderlands game was in active development at Gearbox.
As part of the deal, Take-Two acquires the Borderlands franchise and its spinoff series Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, as well as the Homeworld, Risk of Rain, Brothers in Arms, and Duke Nukem series. The studios acquired by Take-Two are the Gearbox Software mothership in Frisco, Texas, as well as Gearbox Montréal and Gearbox Studio Quebec.
“As a significant long-term Embracer Group shareholder, I believe in the strategy for the Embracer Group going forward and am completely convinced that this transaction is the best possible scenario and an obvious net positive arrangement for Embracer Group, for Take-Two and, of course, for Gearbox Entertainment,” said Gearbox founder Randy Pitchford. “My primary interest is always Gearbox, including our talent and our customers. I want to personally ensure fans of our games that this arrangement will ensure that the experiences we have in development at Gearbox will be the best it can possibly be.”
Embracer is hanging on to a few parts of the Gearbox empire: Gearbox Publishing San Francisco (which well be renamed), including the publishing rights to the Remnant games and Hyper Light Breaker; Cryptic Studios, the massively multiplayer specialist, with its games Neverwinter Online and Star Trek Online; and support studios Lost Boys Interactive and Captured Dimensions.
Though Gearbox Publishing San Francisco is still under Embracer, the company confirmed to Polygon that it has laid off an unspecified number of employees “not tied to the development” of Gearbox games. The layoffs appear to impact marketing, communications, and other portions of the company.
“The Embracer Group will continue to report on their restructuring program that impacted some parts of Gearbox today that are not tied to the development of Gearbox Software games,” a spokesperson told Polygon. “Thank you for granting us the space to remain focused on our people and in our handling of the situation with compassion and manage the process, balancing between our present duty and a commitment to our future.”
Embracer also announced Thursday that it had completed the sale of another of its biggest studio groups, Saber Interactive, which it acquired in 2020. Saber’s founder Matthew Karch bought back the main Saber Interactive studio and several subsidiaries for $247 million, while Embracer retained Metro developer 4A Games, Aspyr, and others. Saber has the right to acquire 4A and pinball specialist Zen Studios within a certain time period, although publishing rights for the Metro games will stay with Embracer’s subsidiary Plaion. Saber is reportedly still collaborating with Embracer on the troubled remake of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.
Update: This story has been updated to include news concerning layoffs at Gearbox Publishing, along with a statement from the company.
