Starfield has been a mammoth of an RPG game launch for Bethesda. Between the sheer volume of Starfield mods, the number of players across all platforms, and the response to the game overall, Bethesda Game Studios could very well have its next Skyrim moment. Well, they definitely have on Steam, but there’s a catch to the statistics.
With the Starfield launch being the best ever for Bethesda Game Studios it might not come as a surprise to hear that the space game has overtaken the likes of Skyrim for concurrent player counts. That said, the Steam stats for Starfield still don’t compare to something like Baldur’s Gate 3, but there’s good reason for it.
Either way, Starfield’s Steam stats are still incredibly impressive, as since the early access launch at the start of September the game has amassed a massive 313,993 concurrent players at its current peak.
This beats out fellow Bethesda Game Studios game Skyrim’s 12-year-old peak of 287,411 players, but not Fallout 4’s peak of 472,962 – not yet at least.
In isolation, this looks like Starfield hasn’t had the best launch of a Bethesda game, but there’s one major factor that changes how we should look at it: Game Pass. While both Skyrim and Fallout 4 are on PC Game Pass, neither launched with the subscription service. Starfield is the first Bethesda game to do so.
So not only can you play Starfield on either Xbox’s PC launcher or on console, but as of right now you can play them at no extra cost to your monthly subscription.
Now, I don’t know what the exact number split is, but I know that if I was given the choice to buy Starfield outright on Steam or pay for PC Game Pass and play it at a much cheaper cost, I’d be going with the latter for all my Starfield missions.
Don’t get me wrong the Steam statistic from SteamDB is still mighty impressive, but we need to be aware that Game Pass is absolutely skewing the numbers here, and will continue to do so for big first-party Microsoft releases.
If you’re just diving into Bethesda’s newest adventure we’ve got your back with a detailed breakdown of the Starfield cities, each of the Starfield companions, and the best Starfield legendaries you should pick up for your build.
Still looking for more? While a good Starfield wiki can be a handy source of information, our new Starfield Database goes further, offering you daily news, searchable databanks, and even interactive tools.
