Borderlands is always better with friends, and Borderlands 4 takes co-op to the next level with full crossplay support through SHiFT. The game releases in a few hours on Steam, and tomorrow, September 12, 2025, on consoles, but before you start blasting through Kairos with your crew, you will need to get your multiplayer settings sorted.
Step 1: Create or Sign Into a SHiFT Account
- SHiFT is free and required for matchmaking, crossplay, and redeeming SHiFT codes.
- Sign up on the Gearbox SHiFT site or directly in-game. Link your Steam, PlayStation, or Xbox account so you can easily log in.
Step 2: Add Friends Across Platforms
Borderlands 4 supports full crossplay, but the system does not automatically recognize friends on other platforms. That is where SHiFT comes in.
- From the main in-game menu, select the SHiFT tab.
- Navigate to the Friends section.
- Use the search bar to enter your friend’s full SHiFT display name (including numbers if they have them).
- Send them a friend request through SHiFT. Once they accept, they will appear in your in-game Friends list.
For crossplay squads, this step is essential, since your Steam friends list will not automatically show Xbox or PlayStation users. Everyone in your group needs to add each other through SHiFT first.
Once you are connected, your friends will show up in the Friends panel at the top-right of the main menu. From there, you can quickly invite them to your party or join their session.
Step 3: Adjust Party Settings
Before jumping into matchmaking, it is worth customizing your party’s privacy and difficulty settings so everyone has the experience they want. Here is how:
- From the main menu, open the Session Settings tab.
- Under Party Privacy, choose how open your squad will be:
- Public means anyone can join your game.
- Friends Only means just friends from your platform or SHiFT list can join.
- Invite Only means players can only join if you send them an invite.
- Local Only means completely offline, no outside players.
- Toggle Personal Crossplay on or off.
- If it is on, players from other platforms can join your squad.
- If anyone in your party has it turned off, crossplay will be disabled for the entire group.
- Set your individual difficulty level. Borderlands 4 lets each player adjust how challenging the game feels without affecting others in the party. This means you can make things easier or harder for yourself without ruining the balance for your co-op partners.
Once you have locked in your settings, you are ready to start inviting friends and queuing up for multiplayer missions.
Step 4: Matchmaking Options
Once your squad is ready, choose between:
- Campaign missions near your progress. This allows you to complete any campaign mission together. You can even choose to go through the whole campaign with your friends.
- Once you completed the campaign and reached the Ultimate Vault Hunter ranks, you can also pick:
- Ultimate Vault Hunter mode
- Moxxi’s Big Encore Runs
- Weekly Wildcard missions
The big advantage is that everyone can scale difficulty independently, but still play together. So if you want the hardest difficulty, but your friend would rather play on easy, you can set that up separately and still enjoy the game together.
If you are planning to start on Steam today or console tomorrow, getting your SHiFT account prepped will save you a headache and get you into the action faster!
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