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How to play Borderlands 4 on Mac

Best played by streaming from the cloud to your Mac.

Overall rating: Hit or miss on Mac · 50% of 2 players say it runs well

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Detect your Mac to see whether Borderlands 4 will run.

Best played by streaming from the cloud to your Mac.

How to run Borderlands 4 on your Mac in 2026

Best path: CrossOver

CrossOver runs Borderlands 4 natively on Apple Silicon by translating DirectX to Metal. One-click install, no Windows VM, full local performance.

MethodQualityDifficultyCost
CrossOverPickGoodMedium$74 / $39/yrGet it ↗
ParallelsEstimateMedium$99/yrGet it ↗
BoosteroidEstimateEasy$9.95 /moGet it ↗
GeForce NOWEstimateEasyFree / $9.99 /moGet it ↗
Get CrossOver Try Parallels Buy on AllKeyShop See all methods & install guide ↓

Borderlands 4

Borderlands 4 is a mayhem-fueled looter shooter, jam-packed with billions of weapons, deadly enemies, and intense co-op action. Break free from a dangerous hidden planet as one of four new badass Vault Hunters.

Borderlands 4 requires the high-end translation capabilities of CrossOver and D3DMetal to handle its DirectX 12 requirements, offering a playable but demanding experience.

Buy on AllKeyShopSee how to play it on your Mac
Borderlands 4 screenshot 1Borderlands 4 screenshot 2Borderlands 4 screenshot 3Borderlands 4 screenshot 4Borderlands 4 screenshot 5Borderlands 4 screenshot 6

What the world thinks

  1. Install CrossOver and create a new bottle named 'Borderlands 4' using the 'Windows 10 64-bit' template.
  2. In the right-hand sidebar, ensure D3DMetal is toggled ON. This enables the high-performance Game Porting Toolkit skin.
  3. Enable ESYNC or MSYNC (MSYNC is generally preferred for macOS Sonoma and later).
  4. Install the Steam client within this bottle and download Borderlands 4.
  5. Before launching, go to the game's properties in Steam and add -dx12 to the Launch Options to ensure the correct renderer is initialized.

While CrossOver is the primary recommendation, you can use Whisky (a free, open-source wrapper for GPTK):

  • Performance is similar to CrossOver but lacks official support and some bottle management features.
  • Create a GPTK-enabled bottle, install the Windows version of Steam, and launch the game.
  • Ensure you have the latest Version of macOS (Sequoia recommended) for the best shader compilation performance.

Performance

How Borderlands 4 runs on your Mac, from our performance model and player reports.

See exactly how Borderlands 4 will run on your Mac

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Best way to play it on Mac

Borderlands 4 requires the high-end translation capabilities of CrossOver and D3DMetal to handle its DirectX 12 requirements, offering a playable but demanding experience.

Buy on AllKeyShopSee how to play it on your Mac
See if this is the right method for your setup

Ways to play Borderlands 4 on Mac

Boosteroid and GeForce NOW are also available for cloud performance on a strong connection.

Compare methods at a glance

Lower = better

How each supported method stacks up on setup effort, time and runtime overhead.

  • CrossOverTranslationTop pick
    Setup
    Moderate
    Time
    15 min
    Overhead
    Medium
  • BoosteroidCloud
    Setup
    Simple
    Time
    5 min
    Overhead
    Low
  • GeForce NOWCloud
    Setup
    Simple
    Time
    5 min
    Overhead
    Low
  • ParallelsVM
    Setup
    Moderate
    Time
    30 min
    Overhead
    High

Where to buy Borderlands 4

Live prices compared across trusted PC key sellers — updates every few hours.

Platform-by-platform reliability

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Step-by-step setup guides

Idiot-proof walkthroughs for every method.

How to run Borderlands 4 on Mac with CrossOver

Good· Compatibility

Running Borderlands 4 through CrossOver translates its Windows DirectX calls into Metal on Apple Silicon — no reboot, no Windows license, no virtual machine. Most setup time is spent on first-time bottle configuration and installing the game launcher (Steam, Epic, etc.) inside CrossOver. Once that's done, launching feels close to native. Expect 15–30 minutes of setup on the first run.

Step-by-step

Step 1 — Create a bottle

  1. Open CrossOver → click New Bottle
  2. Name it after the game (e.g. Borderlands 4) and choose Windows 10 64-bit
  3. Open the bottle's Settings and set:

- Graphics: D3DMetal (not DXVK)

- Synchronization: ESync

- High Resolution Mode: Off

Step 2 — Install the game launcher

  1. Inside CrossOver, click Install Application → search for Steam (or Epic Games Launcher if you own it there)
  2. Install it into the same bottle you just created
  3. Launch Steam, log in, and let it fully update before proceeding

Step 3 — Install and launch Borderlands 4

  1. Open Steam (or your launcher) inside CrossOver
  2. Install Borderlands 4 through the launcher as normal
  3. Launch the game — use the launcher's Play button, not CrossOver directly
  4. First launch may take 30–90 seconds to show a window. Don't force-quit unless it hangs for several minutes.

Step 4 — If you hit issues

  • Black screen / stuck in small window: go to Settings → Graphics in-game, set Screen Type to Fullscreen, then restart
  • Resolution resets on every launch: find the game's config/settings file and set the resolution values manually, then mark the file Read-Only to prevent the game overwriting it
  • Crashes on startup: try switching the bottle's Synchronization from ESync to MSync, or vice versa

Video proof

Try CrossOver free for 14 days ↗Affiliate link — supports the site at no extra cost.

How to run Borderlands 4 on Mac with Parallels

Estimate· Compatibility

Using Parallels to play Borderlands 4 means running a full copy of Windows 11 ARM inside macOS. This is the most "it just works" approach for games that don't behave under CrossOver, and DirectX 11 is hardware-accelerated. You'll need a Windows license and roughly 80 GB of disk space.

Step-by-step

  1. Buy / start a trial of Parallels Desktop.
  2. Install Windows 11 ARM via the one-click wizard.
  3. Inside Windows, install Steam / Xbox app and Borderlands 4.
  4. Enable DirectX 11 in Parallels settings for best 3D performance.

Video proof

Try Parallels Desktop free ↗Affiliate link — supports the site at no extra cost.

How to run Borderlands 4 on Mac with Boosteroid

Estimate· Streaming

Streaming Borderlands 4 through Boosteroid is the fastest way to start playing on a Mac — there's nothing to install, no Windows VM, no compatibility layer. The game runs on a remote GPU and your Mac just receives the video, which means even a base M1 MacBook Air can play the most demanding AAA titles at high settings. The tradeoff is that you need a stable internet connection (ideally wired or 5GHz Wi-Fi with 25+ Mbps down) and a subscription.

Step-by-step

  1. Create a Boosteroid account and pick a plan.
  2. Use the web client or download the macOS app.
  3. Add Borderlands 4 from their library (you'll need to own it on Steam/Epic).

Video proof

Get Boosteroid ↗Affiliate link — supports the site at no extra cost.

How to run Borderlands 4 on Mac with GeForce NOW

Estimate· Streaming

Streaming Borderlands 4 through GeForce NOW is the fastest way to start playing on a Mac — there's nothing to install, no Windows VM, no compatibility layer. The game runs on a remote GPU and your Mac just receives the video, which means even a base M1 MacBook Air can play the most demanding AAA titles at high settings. The tradeoff is that you need a stable internet connection (ideally wired or 5GHz Wi-Fi with 25+ Mbps down) and a subscription.

Step-by-step

  1. Sign up at GeForce NOW. The free tier works; Ultimate gives 4K/120fps.
  2. Download the GeForce NOW Mac app (Apple Silicon native).
  3. Link your Steam / Epic / Xbox account that owns Borderlands 4.
  4. Search the title in the app and click Play.

Video proof

Start playing on GeForce NOW ↗Affiliate link — supports the site at no extra cost.

Our recommendation

For most Mac players we recommend CrossOver as the fastest, smoothest way to play Borderlands 4. One-click local install, official support.

MethodQualityDifficultyCost
CrossOverPickGoodMedium$74 one-time / $39/year
ParallelsEstimateMedium$99/year + Windows licence
BoosteroidEstimateEasy$9.95 / month
GeForce NOWEstimateEasyFree tier / $9.99+ per month
Try CrossOver free for 14 days

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