Borderlands 4 update 1.11 reportedly removes Denuvo

On October 22, 2026, Gearbox Software and 2K Games released the Version 1.11 update for Borderlands 4. Community members and dataminers quickly reported that the patch quietly removed Denuvo DRM from the game.

File inspections show the main executable shrank by 171.69 MB. The game was also cracked on torrent sites hours after the update launched. Official patch notes list stability optimizations, bug fixes, and weapon buffs, but make no mention of DRM removal.

Borderlands creator @EpicNNG reported frame rates climbing from around 50 FPS to 70 or 80 FPS at 1440p on medium settings. Lab measurements from PC Games Hardware indicate Denuvo typically costs at most 5 percent in CPU-limited frame rates, suggesting the update's optimization work also drove the performance gains.

Neither Gearbox nor 2K Games has confirmed the DRM removal. Players note that severe frame rate dips still occur, and 2K's in-house Symbiote DRM remains active in the game files.