Bethesda's sci-fi RPG continues to soar.
08.09.2023 - 08:21 / wccftech.com / Phil Spencer / Francesco De-Meo
A few hours ago, Bethesda announced on Twitter that Starfield has officially become the company's biggest launch of all time, having already registered more than six million players.
It's yet another indication of the game's strong launch after PlayTracker surmised more than two million units of the $100 Premium Edition had been sold as of September 5th. Then, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer revealed Starfield had registered over one million concurrent players.
Of course, it's a fair bet that a hefty chunk of those six million players have accessed Starfield through the Game Pass subscription service. Still, Microsoft recently took steps to increase its monetization of that business model; firstly, they increased the price, bringing the monthly subscription on consoles from $9.99 to $10.99 and increasing the monthly Game Pass Ultimate price from $14.99 to $16.99. A couple of weeks later, Microsoft also changed the Xbox Live Gold to Game Pass Ultimate conversion rate to be less favorable than it had been since it was first introduced. It's still the cheapest way to stack Game Pass Ultimate subscription time, but it used to be even more convenient.
Only time will tell whether Microsoft's bid to put all its exclusive games on Game Pass as soon as they launch will pay off. Sony, for example, continues to shy away from that model, opting to get the full benefit of retail sales for quite some time before its exclusives are placed on the PlayStation Plus Extra and/or Premium tiers.
It's quite obvious that the availability of Starfield on Game Pass is influencing the Steam concurrent players peak, which is around 270K, whereas The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim peaked at 287K and Fallout 4 at 472K. Still, it's possible a new concurrency record may be reached this weekend, allowing Bethesda's latest game to overcome Skyrim.
Starfield got a warm reception from critics, including our own Francesco De Meo, who rated the game 9 out of 10.
At the start of my journey in Starfield, my experience was admittedly rather dull and boring, but as I collected more Artifacts and got involved in the sprawling sci-fi universe created by Bethesda, I started warming up the game, getting to the point that I have some difficulty putting it down. While Starfield refines more than innovates the typical Bethesda formula, it is undoubtedly one of the best games ever made by the studio and one of the year's finest titles.
For our guide to the best mods and tweaks currently available on PC, check out this article.
Bethesda's sci-fi RPG continues to soar.
Microsoft is planning a mid-gen refresh for its Xbox Series X and Series S consoles, eyeing a release in 2024. A series of leaked court documents from the Microsoft vs. US FTC trial revealed a roadmap and concept images for its upcoming set of gaming systems, which also includes a new controller with gyro and haptic feedback. Codenamed ‘Brooklin,' the all-digital Xbox Series X boasts the same horsepower as the existing version, albeit lacking a disc drive. The console is cylindrically shaped and comes with a generous 2TB storage — up from 1TB — which I'm guessing is an SSD. It'll bear the same price tag of $499/ Rs. 54,990 and is slated to drop in late October, next year.
Having already surpassed Skyrim and Fallout by becoming Bethesda’s biggest launch to date - with over six million players, according to the developer - Starfield has now smashed another of its predecessor’s records.
Starfield has set a new record as the most successful game launch for Bethesda yet, overtaking the likes of Skyrim and Fallout with over six million players, according to the developer.
Starfield has become the biggest Bethesda game launch of all time after pulling in over 6 million players.
Have you had a chance to play it yet?
It’s official — Starfield had Bethesda’s biggest-ever game launch. Having racked up over six million players as of yesterday (Thursday, September 7), the space-exploration RPG has soared past the launches of Skyrim and Fallout 4.
As of this morning, Starfield has officially become Bethesda Game Studios' biggest launch of all time, with over 6 million players across Xbox and PC.
Bethesda has recently revealed some new metrics for their latest release, Starfield, that’s taken the company to the moon.
Starfield appears to have broken Microsoft‘s record for the biggest launch day for an Xbox Game Studios title.
More than six million people have now played Starfield, developer Bethesda has said.
Starfield is now in full release, and—surprise!—it's a hit: Shortly after it went into release on September 6, Xbox boss Phil Spencer said on Twitter that Starfield had surpassed a «great milestone» of one million concurrent players across all platforms. That's a big number for sure, but is it really a high water mark of note? As the Doctor once said, it depends on the context.