How Starfield's Launch Compares To Skyrim, Fallout 4, And Fallout 76

08.09.2023 - 17:31 / gamespot.com

Game Pass has changed everything, but we're still looking back to see how Starfield's launch numbers compare to BGS' past games.

By Eddie Makuch on

After years of development, Bethesda Game Studios' big new sci-fi RPG Starfield is finally available, and it's putting up big launch numbers. As of September 7, the game had reached 6 million players and tallied 1 million concurrent users.

Big numbers! But how do those figures compare to BGS' previous big releases, including The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Fallout 4, and Fallout 76? You can see a rundown of the key launch numbers for those games below. Bear in mind, though, that the arrival of Game Pass changed the game, because players can subscribe to get access instead of buying the game outright. Not only that, but Bethesda is now owned by Microsoft, and that means Starfield is only available on console for Xbox, while Skyrim, Fallout 4, and Fallout 76 were multiplatform releases.

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With those caveats out of the way, here's how Starfield's launch compares to the three past releases from BGS.

On September 6, the day Starfield officially launched for everyone following its pre-release period for people who paid more, the game reached 1 million concurrent players. That counts the number of people playing Starfield across all platforms, including PC, console, and cloud. Not many games have passed 1 million concurrent players, and now Starfield is one of them. For comparison, only one game, CS: GO, had more than 1 million concurrent players on Steam today.

In terms of sales, that's a little trickier to pin down. Microsoft and Bethesda have not confirmed a sales number for Starfield, but it was announced on September 7 that the game reached 6 million people since launch. This would seemingly count everyone who played Starfield starting with its launch for the $100 Premium Edition and $300 Constellation Edition on August 31 through September 7. Starfield is available on Xbox Game Pass, so all of the program's subscribers can play the game at no extra cost.

Everyone who played Starfield between August 31 and September 5, however, would have needed to pay to buy a copy of Starfield. For Game Pass members who didn't want to wait, Microsoft also offered a $35 upgrade option that unlocked the game on August 31.

Whether or not Bethesda or Microsoft ever announce a hard sales number for Starfield is unknown. For its part, Microsoft has said Starfield will absolutely make money for Microsoft, in part because it'll drive new Game Pass