Highlights
- Starfield has become Bethesda’s biggest game launch in history, with over 6 million players in just one day, despite being an Xbox console exclusive.
- The early access period saw the game reach over 200,000 concurrent players on Steam, demonstrating its popularity and hype.
- The decision to make Starfield an Xbox exclusive allowed the development team to focus on optimizing for only two platforms, leading to a better product, according to Bethesda Executive Producer Todd Howard.
Bethesda’s first new IP in 25 years, the space-faring RPG Starfield, officially released on September 6 and has already become the biggest game launch in the studio’s history. The very hyped and long-awaited title offers a lot of what fans loved about Fallout 4 and Skyrim, with players praising everything from the graphics and space combat to the feeling of exploration and even Starfield’s refreshing sense of humor.
That appeal has drawn in players from around the world, many of whom got to try the game out five days early by purchasing the Premium or Constellation Editions. During the early access period, the game hit more than 200,000 concurrent players on Steam. This was particularly notable because, besides Baldur’s Gate 3 and Grand Theft Auto 5, the other titles that high on the list were free-to-play, multiplayer games. And the momentum didn’t stop there. On launch day, Starfield passed 1 million concurrent players across all platforms, a remarkable milestone.
Bethesda has now revealed that, as of September 7, one day after its official launch, Starfield has passed over 6 million players. This makes it the biggest launch of all time for the studio. It’s worth keeping in mind that Starfield is an Xbox console exclusive, meaning a large part of the player base who enjoyed Bethesda’s previous games is not able to play the developer’s latest RPG. And that makes one wonder how much bigger the launch might have been if the game had also been released on PlayStation 5.
Starfield was originally expected to be a multiplatform release, and both PlayStation and Xbox gamers were understandably excited when the game was revealed in 2018. However, Microsoft acquired Bethesda in March 2021, and in November of that year, it was confirmed that the game would be an Xbox console exclusive. This left a large part of the player base feeling left out and has been a topic of discussion on social media ever since, with even Sony commenting on Starfield‘s Xbox exclusivity.
However, Bethesda Executive Producer Todd Howard has said that Xbox exclusivity made Starfield better, noting that it allowed the development team to focus on optimizing for only two platforms, Xbox Series X/S and PC, instead of three. That “always yields a better product,” said the exec in an interview with the BBC. It’s also not necessarily a bad thing for an IP to be associated with a single platform, said Howard, pointing out that “when you think of Zelda, you think of the Switch.” Likewise, when gamers think of Halo, they think of Xbox, and now Starfield fills that role as well.
Starfield is available on PC and Xbox Series X/S.
